Also this weekend at Columbia College Chicago is Gender Fusions 7, an extravagant queersplosion of life, love, and overall awesomeness. The school’s website describes it as “The annual queer spectacle of mighty proportions—an electric mash-up of drag, burlesque, spoken word, song and dance celebrating the fierce spirit of the queer community. Strap on your cape and mask — Bam! Kapow! — this a night you do not want to miss!”
This year’s celebration of all things fabulous is sure to keep a face-splitting grin on your lips all night long, with acts such as Daniel Alexander Jones (a renowned drag performer and artist/actor from NYC) and Kate Rigg of Slanty-Eyed Mama fame. Not to mention the fact that The Queen of the Gem Sweaters herself, Leslie Hall, will be heading the queer powered dance party at the end of the night. (Don’t know what I’m talking about? WATCH THIS!)
So slap on some spandex and slip on your best dancing shoes, because Gender Fusions 7 is sure to be a night so epic you’ll be gabbing about it all Summer.
Presented by The LGBTQ Office of Culture & Community, Gender Fusions 7 will be held on Saturday April, 16th at 618 S. Michigan Ave on the 2nd floor at 6pm. Tickets are $5 for Students/Seniors and $7 for the general public. Tickets sell out pretty fast, so nab one ahead of time right here.
Let’s get our dance on!
-S
In honor of The Republic of China’s Centennial, Columbia College Chicago and The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office of Chicago are hosting a series of award-winning films heralding the new wave of contemporary cinema in Taiwan.
To kick off the festivities, there will be an opening reception at 5:30pm at Columbia’s own Film Row Cinema (located at 1104 S. Wabash on the 8th floor). Director General Perry Pei-hwang Shen and members of The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office of Chicago will be present.
Later that evening at 6:30 will be a screening of “Cape No. 7” (2008), written and directed by Wei Te-Sheng. “Set in two different eras, modern-day Taiwan and during the Repatriation of Japan in 1945, CAPE NO. 7 is a romantic musical comedy with a twist of tragic love lost. Aga, an angst-filled ex-city rocker, returns home to Hengchun, a sunny beach town in the south. He lands a job as a letter carrier and discovers an undeliverable package of love letters written by a Japanese teacher to his Taiwanese lover Tomoko during World War II. In the meantime, a band of six unlikely members—Aga, a police officer, a motorcycle technician, a wine salesman, a 10-year old girl, and an 80-year-old folk musician—is formed to save the town’s declining fortune. A Mandarin-speaking Japanese ex-model, also named Tomoko, is given the job of putting the band together. Romance sparks between Aga and Tomoko. Will their story become another repeated tale from sixty years ago?” (synopsis taken from the Columbia event page). “Cape No. 7” has received 15 awards (6 of which were from the Golden Horse Awards in 2008, Taiwan’s version of the Oscars) and is the highest grossing film in the country’s history.
The celebration continues the following afternoon at 12pm with a screening of “Orz Boys” (2008), directed by Gillies Ya-che Yang. It chronicles the adventures of two young pranksters and their journey into the realm of adults.
Finishing off the festival at 2:00pm will be the film “Yang Yang” (2009), directed by Yu-Chieh Cheng. The story focuses on the life of a young girl of French-Taiwanese descent and her struggle to find acceptance and discover her place in the world. It has garnered several awards, including the honor of Official Selection at the 2009 Berlin International Film Festival.
All films will be shown in Mandarin with English subtitles.
For more information and directions to Columbia’s Film Row Cinema, click here. Due to limited seating, it is highly recommended that you RSVP in advance.
I will definitely be attending all three (FREE) screenings because this is an amazing opportunity that should not be missed by any film enthusiast. I better see some familiar faces this weekend!
-S
Eventually, I think Chicago will be the most beautiful great city left in the world.
Frank Lloyd Wright
