In Yawning Bread's view, it is when a film addresses, in a subversive way, conventions and stereotypes relating to gender, sexuality or sexual orientation.

However, as one of the filmmakers on the panel said, much depends on the audience. A gay and lesbian audience often sees a film in a different light from a straight audience. The former may see something as queer while heterosexual viewers may not. In part 2, I mention this point again in my brief discussion of Crocodile Journals by Yeo Lee Nah.

Till now, Singapore has never had a forum for showcasing queer films, and in fact, we don't even have a tradition of making queer works. Yet gender and sexuality are issues that loom large over our personal and social lives. The absence of space for and a lack of a tradition of interrogation lead to the belief that conventions and stereotypes do not need questioning; that somehow these are self-evidently true. Of course, they are not. And not questioning doesn't make conventions and stereotypes any truer; it only makes us more ignorant.

The idea for a film night came up just before People Like Us' Indignation 2006 began in August this year. By then, however, it was a little too late to add a film event to Indignation, what with the time and effort needed to sift through submissions, get an appropriate venue and so forth. In any case, I had the vague belief that a film night can stand on its own as an event by itself, since it has the potential to grow eventually into an annual queer film festival and be one of the highlights of a gay and lesbian calendar. It doesn't really need to be part of Indignation.

Hence, it was given its own name: People Like Us' Short Circuit. However, it many ways it shares the same governing rules as Indignation.

Its first purpose is to address GLBT [1] issues. Short Circuit will -– and I use the future tense because the intention is to run this as an annual event -– accept submissions from any filmmaker regardless of sexual orientation if the film touches on queer issues.

Its second purpose is to showcase the works of GLBT filmmakers. The subject matter of their work does not have to be gay-themed, but the filmmakers themselves should be out and publicly identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. The aim is to put on record that certain works added to our societal opus are the work of gay people. Too often, mainstream society do not see how much gay people have contributed to our common civilisational heritage, and this blindspot serves to perpetuate marginalisation of sexual minorities. Our worth is dismissed because our efforts go unnoticed. Short Circuit aims to make clear the debt we owe to GLBT filmmakers, even if the films are about non-gay subjects.

The third rule that Short Circuit shares with Indignation is that heterosexuals are equally welcome as audience and participants. As much as People Like Us' events are gay community events, they must also serve to build bridges.

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Like all first-time experiments, we had to start small. Instead of a full-blown film festival, we felt a one-night screening would be much more realistic. In any case, Singapore hasn't reached the stage where gay-themed feature films are available from our own filmmakers. All we had were shorts from young, but very talented, pioneers. (And like a lot of what People Like Us does, we wanted to keep the focus on indigenous Singapore works, not imported works. We have neither the financing nor the organisational capability to screen full-length films from abroad. Not yet.)

At the start, I thought we might have about 4 or 5 short films, but within a week of word going around, we found that we had 11 possible entries from 5 or 6 filmmakers. (There would be more later.)

At the first and only organisers' and filmmakers' meeting sometime in August, I had one critical question to put to the whole group. I said to them, "If you want your films shown, your names listed on the program sheet, and you have to sit on the talk-back panel in front of a large audience, there is no question of being in the closet. Are you all prepared to be publicly identified as lesbian, gay or bisexual?"

I held my breath. None of them looked a day older than 24. It's not easy, if you're still studying or if you have to depend on your parents for financial support, to flout family and social expectations. But to my pleasant surprise, all of them said it wouldn't be any problem. They were already out.

I sat back in my chair and thought to myself, "My gosh, have we got a thing going now!"

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PLU Short Circuit 2006 was held on Friday, 6 October 2006 at the Substation. The selection and order of films was the responsibility of curators Alfian Sa'at (left) and Boo Junfeng (below right). The program sheet that they drew up can be seen in the appendix Short Circuit - full listing

It was a private screening; that is to say, the audience came via private invitations with everyone checked at the door against a prepared list. Slightly over 200 invitations were issued and 144 came (excluding the organisers and filmmakers themselves). Since the Guinness Theatre had only about 100 seats, that meant that quite a few had to sit on the floor.

Starting at 7.30 pm, and with a short intermission, it didn't end until after 10.30, so engrossing were the films and the Q&A.

In part 2 are some personal thoughts about 5 of the films featured. Unfortunately the comments there can be plot spoilers. So don't read if you don't want to know too much about the plots.

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Is Short Circuit just an enjoyable film evening, or is it social activism? It is both. But even if it is meant as social activism, will it really change anything? Again, it is both no and yes.

As signeller Bryan Choong wrote, while there are those who act as catalysts to make Short Circuit and the 21 different Indignation events happen, "there are hundreds if not thousands of unnamed individuals who attend all the events, even though we know that we are being watched."

"And we are not asked to attend these events under some government-initiated campaign, so no top down approach here. So do not belittle the small effort from organisers or participants who try to make all these [things] happen."

On a more personal note, a friend of mine, Clarence brought his (straight) sister to Short Circuit, the first time he's brought her to a gay event.

"As it is so often the case," he wrote, "the minutiae of one's life is juxtaposed against historic streams -– it wasn't just a landmark event for the community. It was a landmark event for me too in a deeply personal way."

Sometimes, however, it can all seem futile. "Who are my sister and I?" Clarence asked. "My one act will not bend the course of history." 

On the other hand, "one act may bring some respite to a number of haunted individuals. That is what 'activism' (I hate that word! It is crass.) means to me. That is what changing society means to me. It means helping the few around me to catch even a fleeting glimpse of another world -– a world I inhabit and in which I find my being -– a world I cherish despite all of its imperfections and warts. And if by taking that glimpse, one life is slightly altered, then it matters. It matters a whole great f***ing deal, because the infinite is nestled and nurtured within that which is infinitesimal. The personal is the political."

Likewise, every time someone makes a queer film. Every time someone screens a queer film. Every time someone watches one.

Ivan Heng, a noted theatre director, added a truly cogent comment during the Q&A. Events like Short Circuit, he said, can be very significant. People come into the theatre as strangers, but through the power of the shared experience, leave as a community.

© Yawning Bread