Asian Pride Cinema

Mark your calendars to join us on Sunday 26-July-2026 from 10am to 7pm at The Social Hub Amsterdam City (Wibautstraat 129) for a full day screening of queer Asian films. In addition to showing short films from around Asia, we will be premiering the much anticipated "Montreal, My Beautiful" featuring the amazing Joan Chen, "Please Stay Until the End" - a short film from Malaysia, and "Honorable" - a trailblazing documentary from the Philippines.

10:30-12:30 Session 1

Grandma Nai Who Played Favorites

Ponay (or You Are Not F***ing Welcome)

Zari

At Least We Had This Moment

Swimming in the Dark / 悄悄告訴她

12:30-13:15 Lunch Break

13:15-15:45 Session 2

Montreal, My Beautiful / Montréal, ma belle, followed by Q&A with director Xiaodan He

15:45-17:00 Session 3

Please Stay Until the End, followed by Q&A with director Ngai Yuen Low

Hong Kong Heels / (港出我天后)

Everybody's Gotta Love Sometimes

Two Travelling Aunties

17:00-18:45 Session 4

Honorable, followed by Q&A with director Rhadem Musawah

This event is free and open to all, everyone is welcome!

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About the Films

Grandma Nai Who Played Favorites - Chheangkea, USA, Cambodia, 2024, 19mins

Upon hearing about her favorite grandson’s impending engagement to a woman, Grandma Nai ventures out of her tomb to stop the arrangement and help her grandson stand up for himself.

Ponay (or You Are Not F***ing Welcome) - Hesome Chemamah, Thailand, 2025, 27mins

To retrieve a document required for a gender-identity-based exemption from military service, Cherry travels from Bangkok to southern Thailand and confronts their conservative family.

Zari - Shruti Parekh, USA, India, 2025, 20mins

American teen Neelu feels like a fish out of water amidst preparations for her sister’s wedding in Delhi until she forges a brief and unexpected connection with Zeyb, a quiet sari store clerk who moonlights as an internet drag queen.

At Least We Had This Moment - Joshua de Vera, Philippines, 2025, 20mins

In his quest to capture the architecture of old Manila, film photographer Dino goes on a guided tour led by Vince, a local. Frustrated with revisiting the same spots, Dino proposes deviating from the itinerary to explore the city, bringing the two closer.

Swimming in the Dark / 悄悄告訴她 - Pin-Ru Chen, Taiwan, 2022, 27mins

We try hard to say goodbye in every step of youth. In the midst of summer, Wen intensifies her swimming practice for the coming competition. The pressure and self-imposed isolation that endangers her relationship with Ann. Even though Ann feels it, she chooses to approach Wen again and again. However, every reach seem to push them further and further apart …… When they are facing the future, can they move forward in unison, or they will never accompany both again?

Feature Film: Montreal, My Beautiful / Montréal, ma belle - Xiaodan He, Canada, 2025, 118mins

Chinese immigrant mother in Montreal breaks from duty and tradition when she falls for a young Québécoise woman, leading her to confront questions of identity and freedom.

About the director, Xiaodan He:

Xiaodan He, a Chinese-Canadian filmmaker, has studied film production at the Beijing Film Academy from 1993 to 1997. Being from an ethnic minority, Naxi, she worked for the Yunnan Minority Film Studio in China. In 2002, she immigrated to Montreal of Canada to continue the filmmaking. In 2013, she founded Red Dawn Productions in Montreal and co-produced in 2018 her first feature fiction, A Touch of Spring, witch made her become the first Chinese immigrant filmmaker in Canada who has obtained the governmental grants to make a feature fiction. She then finished a feature documentary about the ancient Naxi culture, My Father's Journey. In 2025, her second feature fiction, Montreal, My Beautiful, starring Joan Chen, received the Best Canadian Feature Award at Windsor International Film Festival and Toronto ReelAsian Film Festival. Selected as one of CBC's 25 best films list of 2025. Xiaodan received the Award of Emerging Artist of the Year by Toronto Film Critics Association.

Please Stay Until the End - Ngai Yuen Low, Malaysia, 2026, 15mins

After his death, a Penang man gathers everyone he loved for one final celebration; forcing family and friends to confront the truths they never allowed him to speak while he was alive.

About the director, Ngai Yuen Low:

Low is a trailblazing Malaysian filmmaker whose work fuses social impact with powerful storytelling. Beginning as a TV host, she directed her acclaimed debut short Your World, My World (2003), which won Best Short Film and People's Choice at Singapore's Starlight Cinema and France's Évian festivals. Her debut feature Orang Itu, a poignant social drama starring Sofea Jane and Carmen Soo, earned widespread praise and ranks among Malaysia's must-watch films. Low founded WOMEN:girls (2013) to empower women through storytelling and served as President of Kakiseni, Malaysia's premier performing arts NGO. As a mother of four, she champions work-life balance while driving innovation in Malaysian cinema.

Hong Kong Heels / (港出我天后) - Elias Fritz, Carlos Laux y Silió, Hong Kong, 2025, 20mins

Pan lives two lives. During the day he is the son of a traditional Hong Kong family. But at night he transforms into the unapologetic drag queen Pansze Diva entertaining the underground of the city. Ultimately looking for acceptance by their parents, what does a death in the family change?

Everybody's Gotta Love Sometimes - Sein Lyan Tun, Indonesia, Myanmar, France, 2023, 15mins

Two months after fleeing Myanmar and arriving in Paris, Phyo, whose status is uncertain, dreams of romance with another man. He dances freely with a sensual dancer in front of the Pont Neuf bridge, but the trauma and desire become a trap.

Two Travelling Aunties - Christine Seow, Singapore, 2025, 22mins

Two spirited Singaporean women ditch conventional living for van life, embracing adventure, newfound freedom, and the joy of living on their own terms.

Honorable - Rhadem Musawah, Philippines, 2026, 70mins

In a country where transgender people are celebrated in culture but unprotected by law, two candidates running for public office fight to prove that “honorable” belongs to them too.

About the director, Rhadem Musawah:

Rhadem Camlian Morados, publicly known as Rhadem Musawah - A Moro Muslim Human Rights advocate and an award-winning documentary filmmaker from the Philippines. With more than 10 years of leadership experience, serving as a Consultant for Intersectional Human Rights and Inclusive Development under diplomatic, government, and private agencies in the Philippines. Leading programs on defending human rights of marginalized sectors in Mindanao, economic empowerment for women and indigenous people, policy advocacy for LGBTQIA+ community, climate change program for the poorest of the poor and Mental Health care for orphan children and women in prison.  In 2022, he was recognized as one of the top 12 SOGI Rights Defenders globally by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the United Nations. In 2023, he received the Social Justice Award at the APCOM Hero Awards in Thailand, supported by the German Foreign Office and the Open Society Foundation. By 2024, the Philippine Commission on Human Rights, a constitutional body of the country has awarded the Human Rights Catalyst to his NGO and he is one of this year’s Top 100 most influential Filipino in the world by INQUIRER.Net.