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Filmed in Cambodia over the course of five years, Lotus Sports Club is an inspiring coming-of-age documentary about Leak, a teenage trans man who plays football in the under-21s women’s team of Kampong Chhnang, and Pa Vann, the coach and father-figure to Leak and other LGBTQ+ players on the team.
Pa Vann established the football team in 2009 to encourage solidarity among straight, lesbian and gender-diverse players. He also opened his home to more vulnerable, often homeless teenagers including Leak, providing these players with a sanctuary in which to be themselves.
However Leak, under pressure to make more money for his family and forced off the football team because of his age, must take the heart-breaking decision to move to Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, leaving behind the one person he loves the most.
This screening will be followed by a Q&A (via Zoom) with the film’s directors, Vanna Hem and Tommaso Colognese and its gender consultant Chhim Putsalun, moderated by Shanshan Chen, documentary filmmaker.
Queer East is a cross-disciplinary festival that showcases LGBTQ+ cinema, live arts, and moving image work from East and Southeast Asia and its diaspora communities. Its fourth edition runs from 18 to 30 April in venues across London, exploring notions of what it means to be queer and Asian today.
