1
ariel alba
An exploration of the growing drag culture within Taiwan's queer landscape
The 2021 short film 'Best Sisters Forever' revolves around the elegant Xue Rong / "Snow" (Heng-Chi Kuo) and the fun and frivolous A Du / "Cavon" (Soda Voyu), two gay "sisters" best friends, who after having a heated discussion about issues of promiscuity, end up distancing themselves from each other.
A tragic event allows the reunion of the two "sisters" a decade later. Knowing that their days together are numbered, the couple embarks on an adventure in hopes of recapturing lost opportunities and creating happy memories. Along the way, they make important discoveries about life, love, friendship, and family. Promises are kept and a long lost dream comes true.
The year after releasing 'Your Name Engraved Herein', a film shortlisted for four awards at the 57th Golden Horse Awards 2020, Liu Kuang Hui (Patrick Liu) offers in 'Best Sisters Forever' an authentic vision of the drag sisterhood in that Asian island.
Associated with GagaOOLala, the Taiwanese director explores the growing drag culture within Taiwan's queer landscape, and reflects on questions of identity, empowerment, bonds and brotherhood within the flamboyant Taiwanese community.
To this end, the film features original performances by some of Taiwan's most famous drag queens at Taipei's most iconic LGBT venue, the historic Red House in Ximending District.
"What has always fascinated me is this special sense of bond or brotherhood that exists between members of the gay community but is rarely talked about or discussed in the mainstream. "So, this is where I wanted to play with this idea of 'sisterhood' and create a story around it specifically in the context of drag," Liu says when premiering the work.
With the intention of visualizing 'drag' and brotherhood within the community, Liu calls on two of the most important actors in the Taiwanese entertainment industry: Heng-Chi Kuo and Soda Voyu.
The first is a singer, director and composer who makes his official screen debut as an actor in this film. In addition to acting, Heng-Chi Kuo performs the main theme of the film: "Don't Rub Salt on the Wound", a song composed in 1999 for A-Mei, the singer considered a gay icon and defender of Taiwanese indigenous and LGBT+ rights throughout the Mandarin-speaking world.
For his part, Soda Voyu is an outstanding actor, winner of the Golden Bell Award, with an extensive filmography, which includes the film 'Tale of the Lost Boys', from 2017, the drama 'Magic Showdown', from that same year, 'iHero 2' and 'Your Name Engraved Herein'.
Thanks to 'Best Friends Forever', both actors play drag characters in a film for the first time, an experience that both together describe as "very entertaining but challenging, a special project that was worth pursuing, especially for its deep cause and the "so necessary drag defense."
Best Sisters Forever is the third installment of GagaOOLala's 2021 anthology 'Queer Up The Volume', a collection of original queer stories, each with their own title track and music video, aiming to portray the different facets of the community. contemporary queer.
The Queer Up The Volume project also includes other titles, such as the second season of GagaOOLala's successful Thai-Taiwanese BL co-production series, 'Call It What You Want 2', by Anusorn Soisa-ngim (Aam); 'Light', from director Adiamond Lee and starring Jed Chung, Max Liu and Ding Ning; the Taiwanese BL drama 'Dark Blue and Moonlight', and 'Fragrance of the First Flower', the lesbian miniseries by director Angel Teng (Bao Bao), winner of the first prize of the GagaOOLala Pitching Sessions 2020.
A tragic event allows the reunion of the two "sisters" a decade later. Knowing that their days together are numbered, the couple embarks on an adventure in hopes of recapturing lost opportunities and creating happy memories. Along the way, they make important discoveries about life, love, friendship, and family. Promises are kept and a long lost dream comes true.
The year after releasing 'Your Name Engraved Herein', a film shortlisted for four awards at the 57th Golden Horse Awards 2020, Liu Kuang Hui (Patrick Liu) offers in 'Best Sisters Forever' an authentic vision of the drag sisterhood in that Asian island.
Associated with GagaOOLala, the Taiwanese director explores the growing drag culture within Taiwan's queer landscape, and reflects on questions of identity, empowerment, bonds and brotherhood within the flamboyant Taiwanese community.
To this end, the film features original performances by some of Taiwan's most famous drag queens at Taipei's most iconic LGBT venue, the historic Red House in Ximending District.
"What has always fascinated me is this special sense of bond or brotherhood that exists between members of the gay community but is rarely talked about or discussed in the mainstream. "So, this is where I wanted to play with this idea of 'sisterhood' and create a story around it specifically in the context of drag," Liu says when premiering the work.
With the intention of visualizing 'drag' and brotherhood within the community, Liu calls on two of the most important actors in the Taiwanese entertainment industry: Heng-Chi Kuo and Soda Voyu.
The first is a singer, director and composer who makes his official screen debut as an actor in this film. In addition to acting, Heng-Chi Kuo performs the main theme of the film: "Don't Rub Salt on the Wound", a song composed in 1999 for A-Mei, the singer considered a gay icon and defender of Taiwanese indigenous and LGBT+ rights throughout the Mandarin-speaking world.
For his part, Soda Voyu is an outstanding actor, winner of the Golden Bell Award, with an extensive filmography, which includes the film 'Tale of the Lost Boys', from 2017, the drama 'Magic Showdown', from that same year, 'iHero 2' and 'Your Name Engraved Herein'.
Thanks to 'Best Friends Forever', both actors play drag characters in a film for the first time, an experience that both together describe as "very entertaining but challenging, a special project that was worth pursuing, especially for its deep cause and the "so necessary drag defense."
Best Sisters Forever is the third installment of GagaOOLala's 2021 anthology 'Queer Up The Volume', a collection of original queer stories, each with their own title track and music video, aiming to portray the different facets of the community. contemporary queer.
The Queer Up The Volume project also includes other titles, such as the second season of GagaOOLala's successful Thai-Taiwanese BL co-production series, 'Call It What You Want 2', by Anusorn Soisa-ngim (Aam); 'Light', from director Adiamond Lee and starring Jed Chung, Max Liu and Ding Ning; the Taiwanese BL drama 'Dark Blue and Moonlight', and 'Fragrance of the First Flower', the lesbian miniseries by director Angel Teng (Bao Bao), winner of the first prize of the GagaOOLala Pitching Sessions 2020.
Was this review helpful to you?
