TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — “The First Kiss of the Night” is a self-described lesbian-neon-punk musical that aims to show underrepresented people and stories in cinema, and is currently in production in Taiwan.
The project is led by J Triangular, a Colombian artist and activist who has been living in Taiwan for about five years. Triangular told Taiwan News that the film she and her Taiwanese (99% woman or non-binary) crew are producing is about empowerment, making the audience feel, and importantly, visibility for lesbian people and their stories.
The film is about a troubled, young, non-binary Taiwanese named T, who is in the grip of a heroin addiction. T meets Shui, a betel nut seller and daughter of a famous Taoist exorcist who wants to perform an exorcism on his daughter. They eventually encounter a character called Big Sister 13, and, according to a synopsis of the film:
“In a web of desires, neon lights, and songs, together they will fight against the destructive presence of addiction, a sinister creature, and a pro-family terrorist group. They will learn how to care for one another, exorcizing a haunted past and flowing into the immensity of love.”
Triangular said when beginning to write the script, she knew she wanted to make a love story, but not a typical one. “I was thinking, there needs to be a figure that is kind of the mentor,” she said.
“Something I found really noticeable, is there are no movies about women living with HIV. There’s none," she also pointed out.
Big Sister 13, played by Missy Hyper. ('The First Kiss of the Night' image)
Out of that realization came Big Sister 13, the film’s "butch lesbian," kung fu fighting, Hong Kong exiled, HIV-positive hero, played by a native Hongkonger now living in Taiwan, Missy Hyper (茜利妹). “When I met Miss Hyper, there was an instant click,” Triangular said.
“She embodied all that power, and she's a kung fu master living with HIV. I mean, I think never in history has that ever happened,” she said. “I’ve never seen a movie about that.”
The choice to feature a women gang in the film was inspired by the 1983 feminist movie “Born In Flames,” described as a zero-budget, underground radical feminist picture with an anarchic spirit. “That movie talks about this group of women that take care of each other, and they're a girl gang,” Triangular said.
In contrast to its somewhat heavy subject matter, there is comedy in the film’s script. “So in the teaser, you see this small proclamation: ‘The g-spot is real,’ and that part was really fun to make,” Triangular said laughingly.
“For me, it's important to use humor also to criticize a lot of things that are wrong on this planet," she said. “That's the reason there is a pro-family terrorist group, right?”
T, played by actor Win Gong. ('The First Kiss of the Night' image)
Themes
Lesbians in film, like lesbians in life, are marginalized and underrepresented, Triangular said. She said more often than not, movies about lesbians are borne out of the male imagination (she said she hated "Blue is the Warmest Color," calling it “so boring!”), and what men think about lesbians.
“It's never about what we think about ourselves, how we want to see ourselves. That's the reason ‘The First Kiss of the Night’ is not realistic at all: It's full of poetry, and I think that's important,” she said.
According to Triangular, “If you're going to make a movie about lesbians, you need to talk about poetry: poetry in our bodies, in our desires, and everything." This is achieved through the film's blend of musical, horror, punk, comedy, and a strong political message, she said.
“Being lesbian isn’t only about loving women,” she said. “It's also how you position yourself in a world that is fundamentally patriarchal and despises women."
Those in society who do not conform to expectations of marriage and a nuclear family are punished, Triangular said, so living as a lesbian is a political act. “I'm from Latin America, so I know what it is to feel afraid to grab the hand of your partner on the street. Lesbians die because of that small gesture.”
About a third of the movie has been shot so far. ('The First Kiss of the Night' image)
“So, I think Taiwan, within my group and crew, they are fascinated to be able to showcase this kind of reality. We can make it immediately universal,” she said.
The film also explores the concept of harm reduction, a health practice that aims to reduce the impact of recreational drug use and sex on people’s lives without requiring abstinence (needle exchange programs for injected drug users are a common example). In Taiwan, a harm reduction program implemented in 2002 was followed by a 72% decrease in all newly reported HIV cases attributable to injection drug use by 2018.
The film’s harm reduction focus was influenced by a curatorial residency Triangular spent with Visual AIDS in 2019, an organization that raises awareness of HIV/AIDS through the arts. She said she was trained to use drugs to reverse the effects of opioid overdose, and the film touches on this, as well as methadone use.
“I think it's especially related to the ideas of exorcism that we talk about,” Triangular said. We talk about methadone in the movie, but we don't think methadone is the solution. No, (it’s) the networks, the care that we need to create to love each other.”
Other themes and references may be more familiar to those in Taiwan, such as a Hong Kong-style sword meeting the neck of a Pinata that looks quite a lot like Winnie the Pooh. “For us, it wasn't just about using this particular symbol embraced by dissent through humor, but also considering that Missy Hyper is a Hong Kong activist, it was important to us to create catharsis,” Triangular said.
('The First Kiss of the Night' image)
“Missy Hyper commented that it was a tremendously liberating moment,” Triangular said. Those who donate to the project are offered a “Winno” pinata as thanks for their help, she added.
Production
The film’s creative producer Sheng-ting Shen (沈聖婷) came on board after she met Triangular at a film business workshop for up-and-coming filmmakers, run in conjunction with Taiwan’s women and non-binary film festival Women Make Waves (which will celebrate its 30th anniversary this year). Shen is a Taiwanese U.S.-based filmmaker who has worked on major international productions and has won awards for her own work on the international film festival circuit.
Triangular said that meeting Shen and other industry connections at the workshop, alongside the mentoring she received there, allowed her to finalize her script. “When the workshop finished this year in March, I decided, okay, we need to shoot the movie," she said.
Triangular said the film is expected to cost around US$190,000 (about NT$6.05 million). So far, production has only shot around a fifth of the scenes that will make up the finished film and is looking for more funds to get it completed, which Triangular said is the biggest challenge at present.
The project launched a Kickstarter campaign and received over US$20,000 in pledged donations, including funding from Creative Capital, which supports Asian, Black, Indigenous, and Latinx creators. Because the Kickstarter did not reach its US$25,000 goal, the donations were not made, but Triangular said she remains committed to her vision.
J Triangular on location. ('The First Kiss of the Night' image)
Instead of Kickstarter funding, the film is being funded by a small loan, ongoing investments, grant applications, and donations, and Triangular aims to finish post-production by mid-2024, with an eye set on the Berlin International Film Festival’s (a.k.a. the Berlinale's) Teddy Award for queer films. If it takes the prize, it will become the second Taiwan-made film to do so, after Huang Hui-Chen (黃惠偵) won the prize in 2017 for her documentary “Small Talk” about the filmmaker's relationship with her mother, a lesbian Taoist priest.
Triangular said Taiwan’s international isolation is a factor in sourcing funds. “In Taiwan, there are really few international film funds that you can apply for because Taiwan is not recognized as a country,” Triangular said.
“One of the film funds that we were really eager to apply for is the World Cinema Fund, organized by the Berlinale,” she said. “We had a meeting with the Berlinale curator, and she said directly to us, ‘Taiwan cannot apply.’”
The World Cinema Fund (WCF) provides funding to “regions with a weak infrastructure for film” and concentrates on areas outside East Asia, Europe, and most high-income countries. Taiwan News asked the WCF if Taiwan’s inclusion as part of China was the reason it was excluded from the funding list, and they said it was not.
('The First Kiss of the Night' image)
“Considering the general state of our planet, we consider Taiwan as a wealthy country that doesn’t need our support,” a representative said in an email. They said that Taiwan cinema is important, but for the above reasons, “we have to focus on other regions and countries.”
Triangular said that in the absence of this opportunity, Taiwan should open more local funding to international talent wanting to make films in the country.
A representative from Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA) told Taiwan News that beginning this year, the agency has opened some additional funding to international filmmakers, and has previously invested in 28 international film projects. However, TAICCA said the main purpose of its funding programs is to encourage Taiwanese filmmakers to reach international filmmakers.
More information about The First Kiss of the Night, including for investors or those who wish to donate, can be found here. The production’s Instagram handle is “thefirstkissofthenight”.
A teaser trailer for 'The First Kiss of the Night.'
