Chinese filmmaker Cui Zi’en directs this gay-themed sci-fi drama about Xiao Bo, a bisexual man who discovers a stranger by the roadside, naked and claiming to be from Mars. Xiao Bo takes the Martian home to his live-in boyfriend and girlfriend, and together, they begin instructing him in the ways of earthlings. But when the mysterious stranger lapses into a coma, only the discovery of true love can bring him around.
Cui Zi En, also Cui Zi’en (Chinese: 崔子恩; pinyin: Cuī Zi’ēn), is a film director, film scholar, screenwriter, novelist and an outspoken gay activist based in Beijing. He graduated from the Chinese Academy of Social Science with an MA in literature and now is an associate professor at the Film Research Institute of the Beijing Film Academy. Cui Zi En is one of the avant-garde DV makers in Chinese underground film. He has published nine novels in China and Hong Kong, one of which, Uncle’s Past, won the 2001 Radio Literature Award in Germany. He is also the author of books on criticism and theory, as well as a columnist for magazines.
Felipa Award
In 2002, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) presented the Felipa Award to Cui Zi En. Cui Zi En brought issues of same-sex love into Chinese culture and public awareness, with a prolific crop of critically acclaimed articles, lectures, books, and films, including the first gay novel in modern China… read more
