LGBT Film Fest & Pride Wrapup
Rainbow Pride Mauritius 2007 was a rousing success, as well as one of the peak experiences of my Fulbright year. For only the second time in history, LGBT persons on the Island got together to assert the fact of their existence.
Alongside the Pride March, there was also a International LGBT Film Fest that was impressive both in terms of the diversity of its selections and the overall quality. From a roster of 20 shorts and 4 feature length films, there were many standouts -- none of which I had ever seen or heard discussion of.
One of my personal favorites were Innocent, a film revolving around the life of a gay Hong Kongaise teenage whose family abruptly moves to Canada. From there, the movie recounts his experience coming out in a purportedly tolerant society against a backdrop of family turmoil.
Another excellent film was a documentary called Happy Hookers . Happy Hookers tracked the lives of 4 male sex workers in Bombay, India. The men who were featured came from far reaching backgrounds ... one was a farmer who migrated to Bombay to seek out roles in Bollywood films; another was a more middle class man who worked as dancer and lived with his mother, another worked part time as a tailor, and a final was a married Muslim living in a cramped apartment with his parents, wife and children.
Though all engaged in sex work for reasons of economic sustenance, they all professed male attraction and counted among their friends other homosexual men as well as transgendered women. In addition, a few of the men featured were also were members of a NGO set up to advocate on behalf of LGBT Indians. Collectively, gave viewers a unique glimpse of Bombay..
Yet, when the asked whether they practiced safe sex or had heard about HIV or AIDS, all four of them said no. Listening to these confessions was utterly devastating...
The final film of the festival that absolutely floored me was a documentary called
This Way Out, which recounted the stories of 3 LGBT refugees to the United States: a lesbian from Brazil, a gay man Pakistan and a gay man from Kenya. All three petitioned for asylum in the United States after being targeted for violence in their home countries or witnessing other LGBT persons persecuted. The man from Kenya relayed how gay persons were regularly "lynched" .. or rung with a gasoline doused tire and then lit afire. The woman from Brazil relayed stories of lesbians being assassinated in broad day light by gunmen, confided that she had left Brazil after being raped by a colleague determined to "set her straight." After that point, I bawled.
Nevertheless, softening the blow of these more heartrending movies, the Festival also screened several movies that were light-hearted, absurd, and shocking/fantastic. One such film was a 6 minute court métrage turned in Turkey and told the story of a Court Attendant who drove his Emperor wild with desire by washing his feet, clipping his toe nails, and drinking the water. Then in a second short film, the Milkman, the story centers on a 600lb middle aged man and his teenage paramour, who he woos by offering a bottle of milk. At the end of the film we learn that the older man is lactating, and that the milk he serves the other one came from his own breast. The film finally ends with him breastfeeding the younger one.
Talk about shock-value...I for one could hardly beat watching the sequence. However, given the fact that it interrupted an otherwise sobering selection of films, it ended up being a real audience favorite.
One film that was decidedly not an crowd-favorite was Finn's Girl... complained universally about its length (clocked in at 1.5 hours on a day that had been dedicated to short films (courts métrages). However, despite the fact that it was one of the festival's most poorly received films, it was one of my favorite. I for one have never encountered a screenplay quite so dense. Get this: the subject of the film was a butch 40-something OB/GYN named Finn, who worked simultaneously as an abortion provider AND a reproductive technology specialist (delicious) whose life partner was an abortion provider who had died of breast cancer 2 years earlier.
In addition, the protagonist was the caretaker of a surly, ill-tempered, pot-smoking, shoplifting 12 year old who rejected her as her actual parent, seeing her instead as a step parent. Thus, the film was a drama revolving around their family problems, as well as the numerous death threats and assassination attempts that were raining down on the household because of chosen profession. In addition, it was a romantic concerning the Dr's trysts with another doctor at the abortion clinic, and subsequently with a police officer stationed outside her house on 24 detail.
And as if lesbianism, relationship drama, abortion provision, family disintegration, death of a life parter, and pro-life sniper attack weren't sufficient material, the movie ended with the revelation that the Finn's unruly teenager was really her biological daughter, and the first ever child conceived of two mothers/ two eggs.
In the end the film was dense to the point of being totally absurd, but I personally loved how they stacked the platter.
Apart from the film festival, attention was also brought to LGBT issues through awareness raising in the print and broadcast media. On 3 or 4 occasions, members of the Collectif Arc-en-Ciel appeared on radio talk shows to answer questions about homosexuality from callers. Considering that most of the caller's intentions were to verify that the speakers were gay themselves and then voice their resounding disapproval, this was an incredibly incredibly brave.
Alongside the radio blitz, a series of articles on LBGT issues also appeared in the Mauritian Press, on topics as wide ranging as the film fest, activists battles against homophobia, and the existence of bisexuality. I was interviewed as part of the final piece, and if you read if you'd be tricked into thinking I speak French like a member of the Parisian literati.
The efforts of activists did not go unchallenged, however. On the day of the Island's actual Pride March, a coalition calling themselves the "Mauricien Croyants Bibliques" (Mauritian Biblical Believers) staged a counter rally in Quatre Bornes, the town adjacent to the site of the Pride March. Interestingly, in spite of the name, the Biblical Believers parade turned out to be an interfaith assembly of mono-theistic and polytheistic religious adherents, united under a banner of "Non A La Déviance Sexuelle" (No to Sexual Deviance).
Due to the timing of the event, Mauritian newspapers covered the Rainbow Pride March and the Anti-Homosexuality March together using headlines such as "Deux Marches, Deux Causes.
Perhaps a testament to the diversity of the group, one photo showed a Muslim man leading a crowd of sign-waving protesters, while another showed a Hindu man holding a "Homsexuality is Immorality" poster... (talk about uncanny sense of rhyme). Finally, a Creole man was featured holding a placard with the word "Death" written in hand-drawn capital letters.
While homophobia is nothing that I am unused to, what does surprise me is how religious groups in Mauritius seem to operate on grand consensus. Even if Hindus, Christians and Muslims disagree about the identities of the prophets, none question the prominent role that religion plays in every day life here. Take the recent debate surrounding the decriminalization of consensual sodomy. Polemicists emerged from all possible religious orders, unified in their conviction that the state should regulate private liaisons in the interest of "morality."
The fudging of political debate, religious discourse and ethnic-cultural group membership (i.e. Hinduism as an ethnic community and interlinked set of religious practices) also makes homosexuality a highly closeted affair. Despite the fact that persons of South Asian descent constitute 70% of the Islands population, not a single member of the Collectif Arc en Ciel is Hindu or Muslim... seemingly due to the inflexibility of their sending cultures. Case in point, last year when a Hindu Lesbian came out to her family, she was involuntarily committed to a mental institution for an entire month.
Although it's hard to imagine a scenario where Catholics would be the most progressive group in a society, it seems to be the case here. As a group, LGBT Creole s Catholics have much greater visibility.
In the end, having to square off with the religious protesters scared many of the Rainbow marchers away. Although 300 people attended in the Parade, twice that number had been expected, and twice that figure showed up for the Pride Party that took place in a more sequestered location that same evening.
However, for those LGBT activists who were not too daunted by the counter really, the counter protests renewed our sense of purpose.
Naturally, I took lots and lots of photos of the Pride March...
Rainbow Pride Mauritius 2007 Hope that you enjoy!
Labels: festivals, rainbow pride
