An award-winning Taiwanese film was shown on Saturday to two very different audiences One, at the Beijing Queer Film festival – an event cautiously held inside the French Institute – had little public promotion. The mostly young crowd was sombre and serious, even unreactive, as they watched Tank Fairy, a 10-minute musical comedy about a dancing, dragged-up, cigarette-smoking, magical figure who delivers gas tanks.
At the same time in Sydney, Tank Fairy’s director Erich Rettstadt was accepting the Asia-Pacific Queer Film Festival award, after a screening during which people laughed and cried. The event was part of the two-week WorldPride celebrations. “There are rainbow flags everywhere and it does feel very gay,” said Rettstadt.
