Suddenly, Last Winter : Our love is Political
par Chai Waradham
This article and interview were published in Soithongsarn Dharmma News Letter, November 2008 issue in Thailand.\par
Many thanks to Timo Ojanen for assistance with the English translation. Suddenly, Last Winter was shown in 12 Thai Short Films Festival in September 2008 at Bangkok Art and Cultural Center of Bangkok, Thailand. And was shown again in the theatre in Bangkok in November 2008.
In Italy, a same sex marriage law named \b Dico \b0 was to be formally announced to serve the public. Suddenly, Last Winter (as the title of the film puts it), this law was cancelled after meeting extreme resistance by politicians and the Church because they viewed same sex relationships are a sin, unnatural and do not constitute a family. This made \b Gustav \b0 and his male lover, \b Luca, \b0 who have been in a relationship for 8 years, to make the film \b Suddenly, Last Winter.
Said Gustav in \lquote www.suddenlylastwinter.com \rquote \ldblquote I was sitting on a ski lift when I heard the news and that very moment I decided that something had to be done and that the best way would be to make a film. It was very clear from the beginning that the story had to be told from a private point of you. So I convinced my boyfriend Luca to start making a film about us and about how we were affected by what was going on.\rdblquote \f0\fs24\par \pard\ltrpar\fi720\f1\fs32 Suddenly, Last Winter became a directly political film about love between two men:\par \pard\ltrpar\nowidctlpar\fi720\sb100\sa100\ldblquote So we started to leave our protected private world, armed with our little HDV camera, following the debate in the Senate week by week and hopping from one demonstration for or against a law for civil unions to the other.\rdblquote\f0\fs24\par \pard\ltrpar\fi720\f1\fs32 Gustav and Luca invested to bring their private relationship as lovers into the public eye, having lived together in the same room and slept on the same bed for 8 years. With their HDV camera, they shot their daily lives, which allows people to absorb the idea (and feel envy toward) that two men can live together as lovers, no different from regular couples made up of a man and a woman.\par Being journalists gave them a good opportunity to follow and record the atmosphere and the debates inside the parliament about Dico, and also to interview conservative politicians who opposed Dico.\par This alone was not enough. The two men also did something kick ass by following up people on the street and interviewing them about their feelings about Dico having been cancelled. It was not fair for same sex lovers... that a man and a man can live together is a right. Besides making general interviews, they also gave indirect education.\par A more risky and challenging thing that they did was that one of them held a microphone for interviewing passers-by, who were told \ldblquote The photographer shooting this is my boyfriend, we\rquote ve lived together for 8 years now. How do you think about ?\rdblquote This made the passers-by lost for words and simply rush to escape.\par Something even more risky the couple did was to go to a demonstration against Dico and interview people in the same way as before : \ldblquote We\rquote ve lived together for 8 years now, we should have the same rights as other people.\rdblquote As before, the passers-by became moody and just said it\rquote s a sin, then quickly walked away\'85\par \pard\ltrpar\sb100\sa100\f2\tab Whoever likes the film Life Is Beautiful, a sarcastic Italian comedy film that brought tears to our eyes many years ago, should be impressed with Suddenly, Last Winter. This film twisted gay life to beat society with sarcasm. You will laugh with tears in your eyes while you watch this film. Looks like the Italians are experts in producing this kind of film.\par \pard\ltrpar\fi720\f1 There is one scene (actually, not really a scene, because it is a live shooting from a true situation) in which I didn\rquote t know whether to laugh or cry: The couple went to two Christian nuns, who were walking on the street together. In the beginning, they felt very happy that a journalist wanted to interview them (they might have thought they would be on television). But when they heard the question\'85 \ldblquote How do you think about same sex relationships? Because we\rquote ve lived together for 8 years now\'85\rdblquote , the two Christian nuns went blank and tried to walk away immediately, without saying anything. \par The Dico\f0\fs24 \f1\fs32 law in Italy became a hot issue in every part of society. There were people opposing it on television, strongly blaming homosexuals. Posters opposing Dico were put up all around town to make people reject Dico.\f0\fs24\par \pard\ltrpar\tab\f1\fs32 Suddenly, Last Winter tries to reveal that white people do not accept gay people as easily as we understand (people in Asian countries think that Europe and America are countries of freedom and accept gay people that unconditionally). It\rquote s not as easy to get a same sex marriage law as to peel a banana and put it into your mouth. It takes decades of battle until we\rquote ve got it.\par \tab The scenes of gay pride, gay parades, gay celebrations we often have seen on the news are just like illusions that flash in our eyes, while we never have had a chance to see the truth about the majority of European or American people still not feeling good about gays. What has made them allow gay peple to get married is the activism by gay, lesbian and transgender people calling for their rights. Which countries get the gay marriage law depends on the wisdom of the government, not on total acceptance of or support for gay and lesbian people.\par \pard\ltrpar\fi720 It\rquote s very difficult to get gay marriage law if the government of a country is heavily influenced by the Church and politicians tend to be fundamentalist Christians and extremely conservative. As Italy is a center of Christianity, with the Vatican and the Pope in Rome, to get gay marriage law is something that we cannot even talk about.\par The way Gustav and Luca bring out their private lives into the public to fight the government and conservative Christians is a risk to their daily lives. After the film was shown in almost all Italy, there is almost no one who doesn\rquote t know Gustav and Luca, the \lquote actors\rquote of Suddenly, Last Winter.\par We tend to say that being gay is a private matter with which one should not meddle. But when the private life of a gay couple is affected by the inequality that the government has in store for them, the private becomes public. Who is gay and who is not might not be a private matter any more. Finally, it\rquote s a political issue as Gustav and Luca attempt to show us.\par It\rquote s totally political, as no one in Italy can not deny.\par \pard\ltrpar\par \b And this is the interview to Gustav by Chai through email.\par Let\rquote s see what they talk about.\par \par \lang2057 Chai : How did the movie goers react after they have seen the film ?\line Gustav :\b0 The reactions all over Italy were always very passionate and positive. Many people came after the screenings and thanked us for our courage and they told us that now they understood that in fact the Vatican is interfering into the Italian politics. Many felt anger and rage about the situation in our country but liked the ironic approach of the film - they called it "commedia italiana", italian comedy where you laugh and cry.\line\lang1033\par \lang2057\b Chai : How did the Church and Vatican react for your film ?\line Gustav : \b0 Unfortunately the Church did not react at all. But we are sure they know about it as all the big newspapers wrote about our film. We would love to show them our film!\lang1033\par \par \b Chai : \lang2057 How were your life and Luca\rquote s after the film was shown all around Italy ?\line Gustav :\b0 With the film Luca and me - even if we did not want it - became public figures. Whenever the Italian Press talks about the issue of civil unions, they call us or put our photo on the newspaper with the credits: \b "Luca Ragazzi and Gustav Hofer, directors and gay couple".\b0\line\line For many Italian gay people today we became a kind of "role model". Every day, still today, we get email from strangers who saw our film and they just thank us because finally they could see the life of a normal couple on screen, away from all the stereotypes. On Italian TV usually the gay characters are always sad and alone and they die by the end of the series... \b (Of course ! many Thai films are the same! - Chai) \b0 Today we feel to have a responsibility in the battle for our rights and we try to assume this responsibility as best we can.\par \par \b Chai : Are you and Luca were saved and nothing violence to you after the film was show all around Italy ?\b0\line\lang1033\b Gustav : \lang2057\b0 Fortunately nothing happened to ourselves and we were always warmly welcomed. \par \par \b Chai : How was it when people meet you (and Luca) on the street and they can remember you (and Luca) are the actor in Suddenly, Last Winter.\b0 \b Did they hurt you or anything?\b0\line\lang1033\b Gustav : \lang2057\b0 Only good things happened till now and mostly people thank us and want to say hello.\line\lang1033\par \b Chai : H\lang2057 ow did your parent (and Luca's parent) feel or react to you when you did a risky job like this by making a private film ?\b0\line\lang1033\b Gustav :\b0 \lang2057 Both of our parents really liked the film. Luca's dad, who was a film director himself, and usually is very critical, after the screening he said that he loved the film and that he had nothing to criticize. My father called me after that he had seen the film on DVD at home (my parents live in the North) and told me how proud he was and that we were very courageous. My mother and my sisters they came to the world premier to the Berlin Film festival. My mom was very moved and embraced us crying after the screening. Today my parents say they are happy about the success of the film because now everybody knows and the questions, if I got married with a woman, is not made any longer to them.\line \tab For our brothers and sisters, they were happy for us and proud for what we've done.\line Funny, because for us, when we made the film, it was the most natural thing we could do and we did never think that we were courageous.\lang1033 \par \tab Thank for the interview. We hope it\rquote s useful\lang2057 for every reader.\fs28\line\line\lang1033\b\fs32 About the author :\par Chai Waradham \b0 is a Buddhist monk living in Thailand.\b \b0 He\rquote s interested in gender and queer issues and has written many articles about gender and queer issues (in Thai). He has also done workshops and training sessions for young queer people. He teaches meditation and loves to see queer films. Originally from Finland, he has now lived three years in Thailand. Besides studying for a Master\rquote s degree in Counseling Psychology in a university in Bangkok, he\rquote s also involved with local gender and queer issues in various ways. He communicates fluently in Thai.
ar The pic i sent you... for combine with the article as to introduce the writer and the translater.\par This message for combine with the pic i sent to you.\par "Chai Waradham (left) and Timo Ojanen (right)"\par \par \par \par \par \pard\ltrpar\fi720\par \pard\ltrpar\f0\fs24\par }
