The 2024 Queer Screen’s Mardi Gras Film Festival (MGFF) kicked off on Feb. 15, featuring the Taiwanese film “Who’ll Stop the Rain (青春並不溫柔)” directed by Su I-hsuan (蘇奕瑄). The premiere took place at the Event Cinemas in Sydney City alongside the post-screening talk on Feb. 17.
The MGFF, established in 1993, has grown as one of Australia’s largest film festivals of any kind, and one of the top five queer film festivals in the world. This year, it holds cinema screenings from Feb. 15 to 29 and on demand online screenings from Mar. 1 to 14.
Director Su I-hsuan said that she developed the script from a series of documentaries about protests in Taiwan in the 1990s that took place following the lifting of martial law. Even though her film is based on a true story from 30 years ago, she presented the story from a perspective that is more fitting to the contemporary atmosphere, she added.
The production of “Who’ll Stop the Rain” is supported by the Bureau of Audiovisual and Music Industry Development of the Ministry of Culture. Upon its release in 2023, it received awards and nominations in various film festivals, including the Taipei Film Festival, the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, the Tokyo International Film Festival, and the International Film Festival Rotterdam.