Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been a rise in discrimination and hate crimes against East and Southeast Asian people living in the West. At the same time, single and unmarried LGBTQ+ people have been alienated under the heterosexual nuclear-family oriented mode of quarantine policy. How do LGBTQ+ people survive in the pandemic? What does intimacy look like in a quarantined environment? What if they happen to be LGBTQ+ and East and Southeast Asian at the same time? How can quarantine policy and post-pandemic recovery better respond to the needs of marginalised social groups?
Safe Distance directed by Jamie Chi is a documentary film that explores queer Chinese individuals’ lived experiences of discrimination and ostracization in the UK during the pandemic. It involves 31 queer-identified interviewees who come from Chinese societies and backgrounds, including the UK, mainland China, Hong Kong, Canada, the Netherlands and Singapore, and who currently reside in this country. It examines themes incorporating identity, intersectionality, mental health, discrimination, migration, and the notion of home and community. Jamie Chi draws parallels between Covid and the HIV/AIDS pandemic of the 1980s to alert people to the history of discrimination against the queer community. She also highlights how queer Chinese individuals have experienced particular discrimination through racism and homophobia. The film will be introduced by the producer Qiu Bai with online participation by Jamie Chi from Hong Kong.
Screening followed by Q&A with producer Qiu Bai and Hongwei Bao joined by Director Jamie Chi online from Hong Kong.
The University of Nottingham University Park Nottingham, NG7 2RD
telephone: +44 (0) 115 951 5757 or 84 66437 email:hongwei.bao@nottingham.ac.uk or ting.chang@nottingham.ac.uk