Beautiful Men
Du Haibin
Release year: 2005
Run time: 100 min
Film type: Documentary
Synopsis
Set in a famous drag bar in Chengdu, Sichuan, this film explores the on- and off-stage lives of three of the club’s drag queen dancers. Sister Sha, was the bar owner’s first love. Now 47, he still practices and performs, but has become the butt of the troupe’s jokes. Qingqing, a veteran dancer, is married with a baby daughter. And Xixi, a rising star, plans to marry his lesbian girlfriend in order to please both their parents.
Every night at ten o’clock, these men take to the bar’s stage to perform a ballet number or a folk dance. Year in year out, the peach blossoms are the same, but the faces smiling back are different.
Director biography
Du Haibin was born in Baoji City in Shanxi Province in China. He studied painting from childhood. In 1993 he studied Painting and Photography at the Beijing Central Academy of Arts. In 1996 he entered the Beijing Film Academy Photography Department. In 1998 he started documentary filmmaking and creative photography work. Du Haibin has made numerous feature documentaries and two fiction films.