10s Across the Borders, a Singaporean documentary from director Chan Sze-Wei that chronicles the rise of ballroom culture across Southeast Asia, is making its world debut on September 20 at the Busan International Film Festival. The film will compete in the festival’s Wide Angle Documentary Competition.
The film, which is co-produced by Alemberg Ang (Some Nights I Feel Like Walking, Renoir), follows three key figures in the Southeast Asian ballroom scene: Asia Overseer Father Teddy Orrici from Malaysia, International Mother Xyza Mizrahi from the Philippines, and Asian Father Aurora Sun Labeija from Thailand. All three of the documentary’s main subjects play major roles in leading their respective houses and creating ballroom communities that act as safe havens from homophobia, transphobia, color discrimination, and HIV stigma.
Chan first got the idea for the documentary in 2017, when their friend Labeija began developing the ballroom community in Thailand. “From the first ball I attended in 2018, I fell in love with the powerful energy, collective activation, and struggle of these communities,” Chan said in the documentary’s official press release. “We make this film to shine a light on this amazing culture of activism and allyship, along with the sense of empowerment and belonging it brings. Hopefully, with 10s Across the Borders, we can help transcend ballroom’s impact far beyond its communities.”
As of writing, screenings of 10s Across the Borders in Philippine cinemas have yet to be announced.
