East Asia Program presents "Lilting."

About the film: Junn, played by the beloved late Cheng Pei-Pei, is an elderly Cambodian Chinese widow still grappling with the death of her son, Kai. Her life is further complicated by Richard (Ben Whishaw), Kai’s boyfriend, seeking to build a more intimate connection despite their language barriers. With the help of a translator, the two uneasily embark on a journey of mutual understanding, transforming the prickly relationship into tethered solace. Through its non-linear narrative, Lilting delivers a tremendously insightful study of loss and coping, of fractured memories and graceful acceptance. Hong Khaou’s Lilting reminds us that grief can be a delicate bridge, a thin lifeline that transcends language and cultural barriers.

Free Admission! Part of our “Love, Loss, and Longing” series. Courtesy of Strand Releasing. In English and Mandarin (with subtitles).

About the screening series:

Join us for a two-part screening series offering tender glimpses into queerness centered on East and Southeast Asian contexts. Seen through the eyes of diasporic directors—Cambodian British Hong Khaou and Vietnamese American Leon Le—Lilting and Song Lang weave delicate, lyrical narratives to contemplate unexpected connections. Both debut feature films speak not only to the happenstance of those who enter our lives but also to the ephemerality of these relationships.

This series celebrates queer Asian filmmakers who employ cinematic language to traverse difficult spaces, reminding us of the playful gestures that films can offer to resituate our understanding of presence and absence, of memory and healing, and of intimacy and unspoken emotions.
Featuring:
Lilting (2014, dir. Hong Khaou)
Wednesday, March 5, at 6pm
Song Lang (2018, dir. Leon Le)
Wednesday, March 12, at 6pm

Sponsored by the East Asia Program and the Southeast Asia Program at the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies and co-presented by QGrads, Cornell’s LGBTQIA2S+ Graduate Student Association.
"Love, Loss, and Longing" is curated by Vince Ha, a Fulbright visiting researcher for the Southeast Asia Program at the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies.