ShanghaiPRIDE Concludes Eighth Annual Festival！

Shanghai, July 4 – Over 6,500 members of the LGBTQ community and its allies came together to celebrate ShanghaiPRIDE’s eighth annual festival on June 17-26. This year’s theme, “生为平常 I Am Me,” revisited the fundamentals of staying true to oneself through 10 days of cultural, social, and educational events across the city.

A multimedia theme campaign leading up to the festival featured a powerful video involving eight important figures in the Chinese LGBTQ community – among them were acclaimed sociologist Li Yinhe, Sun Wenlin and his partner Hu Mingliang (who filed the first same-sex marriage case to be taken up by a court in China) and Qiubai, the first student to bring the Chinese education bureau to court over a textbook that stigmatized homosexuality. Wunderman Shanghai created a series of moving visuals featuring members of the LGBTQ community and their diverse identities, as well as an innovative WeChat campaign, “Jump & Catch the Pride Rainbow,” which encouraged supporters to jump in the air while holding a phone to reach different colors of the Pride rainbow. Even international celebrities got on board: world-renowned British actor Sir Ian McKellen filmed a video clip expressing his support for ShanghaiPRIDE and the Chinese LGBTQ community.

This year’s festival was special as it built a community across the country and Asia. Over 34 organizations from Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, and Mongolia attended the festival to share and show support for each other. “It has been very exciting and there has been a lot of community support this year, we hope to continue this effort towards our long march”, said Director of ShanghaiPRIDE, Raymond Phang.

Pre-Pride events generated excitement in the month leading up to the festival, with the second annual Rainbow Bike Ride on May 21, Women Up! Networking Forum on May 26 and Zhihe Society’s original theatre production, Who the Hell, on May 29. On the eve of Pride8, the first-ever PRIDE Talk debuted at The Apartment to an audience of nearly 100, with 10 speakers covering heavy topics like coming out in just 400 seconds each. The first day of ShanghaiPRIDE 2016 on June 17 marked the opening of the Art & Photo Exhibition at Xin Café, with five artists exploring the theme of “性别 Gender” through brush and lens.

 

The much-anticipated annual Pride Run on June 18 was sponsored by Nike Running Club; the sunny Saturday morning saw over 200 participants decked out in Nike #BeTrue t-shirts and rainbow shoelaces setting off from six city landmarks to converge at The Langham Shanghai, Xintiandi. The hotel’s terrace bar, XTD elevated, once again hosted the annual Pink BBQ, which launched the weekend’s events with delicious food and community building. That night, the Opening Party at Eight Art Hotel’s Bund-side rooftop – sponsored by Rainbow Rabbit – kicked off the nightlife portion of the festival with a Wizard of Oz theme, drag performances, dancers, DJs and plenty of prizes.

With more than 40 film screenings at 11 venues over 10 days, ShanghaiPRIDE Film Festival (ShPFF) returned bigger than before with a gender theme focusing on transgender and non-binary identities, as well as sub-themes of Asian Cinema, Queer History and Lala Stories. ShPFF Opening Night on June 19 at The Pearl featured a screening of acclaimed independent trans film Tangerine, as well as the Best Film winner and runner-up in the ShPFF short film competition, Ji’en Wu – Yu and Rachel and Kaspar X – If I Had a Soul, respectively. Yu and Rachel will go on to compete at the Iris Prize festival in the UK, with an opportunity to win £30,000 in production funding. Events throughout the week saw feature films screened alongside the other short film entries – all representing queer Chinese narratives – and garnered attendees from around the world, including special guest Zhang Yuan, director of East Palace, West Palace, recognized as the first gay film made on the Mainland. Queer Film Conference Day on June 25 at Grand Kempinski Hotel Shanghai (with networking and presentations by filmmakers and industry leaders) and Closing Night on June 26 at Kartel (featuring Canadian trans film Laurence Anyways) rounded out ShPFF 2016, supported by Gold Sponsor Rela.

This year’s ShanghaiPRIDE Theatre Festival (ShPTF) saw sold-out crowds at almost all of its shows, starting with all-female theater troupe Muju Group’s musical Seasons of Love on June 16-19. Urban Aphrodite brought down the house with their campy Hitchcock-inspired Psycho Beach Party on June 23-25, and improv from Zmack Family: I Am Me (on June 17) and The Improvisers’ Big Big World (on June 24-25) had the crowd laughing from beginning to end.

Pride8’s educational offerings included a Queer Talks panel discussion on Self and Community Awareness at the Shanghai American Center on June 19. Three speakers shared their expertise in the areas of mental and physical wellbeing, including well-known athlete Liushi, Gay Games silver medalist and long-time advocate against HIV stigmas. Trivia Night on June 22 at Lucca Café & Lounge proved to be a wild and competitive evening hosted by internet celebrity Afu. LGBTQ Groups Open Day on June 25 at Andaz Xintiandi, Shanghai, brought together 30 organizations from around China, while the National PFLAG Conference later that day at the same venue was filled to capacity with LGBTQ individuals and their families.

Heading into the weekend, the Ladies Party on June 23 at The Apartment boasted steamy dance performances, giveaways and the star-quality voice talents of Sky and former China Supergirl contestant Charley Tsai. Finally, the Closing Party at Reel to Reel (sponsored by IMTOY) on June 25 brought the festival to an end in true Pride fashion, packed with rainbow flags and spirited partygoers spread among two dance floors and spilling out into the courtyard.

ShanghaiPRIDE is a non-profit, volunteer-run event supported by the aforementioned sponsors, in addition to this year’s Gold Sponsor, The Dow Company, IBM and Movie That Matters as well as the Dutch, British, Royal Danish, Swiss, Swedish and Canadian consulates in Shanghai and the Nordic Center. Proceeds from this year’s festival supported organizations working to advance LGBTQ causes in the country – including Common Language and the participants of this year’s Groups Open Day – and funded a leadership training program for LGBTQ organizations around China.

For more information on Pride8, visit shpride.com or follow ShanghaiPRIDE’s social media channels, including WeChat (Shanghai-PRIDE), Weibo (weibo.com/shanghaipride), Facebook (facebook.com/ShanghaiPride), and Instagram (@Shanghaipride).

Contact
Email: shanghaipride@gmail.com
Website: shpride.com

生为平常 I Am Me