29 year old Fan Popo is a young LGBT filmmaker and gay activist who is based in Beijing. After graduating from the Beijing Film Academy, he made a number of documentaries including: New Beijing, New Marriage (2009), Be a Woman (2011), Mama Rainbow (2012) and The VaChina Monologues (2013). His work has been shown in film festivals around the world, and he is currently in production for his next film Papa Rainbow.
29岁的范坡坡是一位居住在中国北京的年轻同性恋题材电影导演和活动家。自北京电影学院毕业后，他制作了多部纪录片，包括：《新前门大街》(2009)，《舞娘》 (2011)，《彩虹伴我心》(2012)，《来自阴道》 (2013)。他的作品也多次在世界各地的电影节上展映，目前他正在筹划自己的下一部影片Papa Rainbow (中文名待定)。
Papa Rainbow focuses on fathers in mainland China and how they interact with their children who have come out. His previous film Mama Rainbow followed six mothers in China and their relationships with their LGBT children. Fan’s Be A Woman (2011) followed local drag queens who worked in a bar in the southern city of Nanning, Guangxi province. Of all of his work so far, his time spent on Be A Woman made the deepest impression on him. Returning again and again to Nanning, he immersed himself in the daily lives of his subjects, gaining their trust and confidence.
影片Papa Rainbow将会讲述中国父亲如何与他们出柜的儿子互动交流的故事。他在之前的影片《彩虹伴我心》中跟拍了六位中国母亲与她们的同性恋孩子的日常关系。2011年的《舞娘》则记录了一群在广西南宁这样的南方城市中，以在酒吧伴“变装皇后”为业的同性恋者的生活。在他所有已完成的影片中，《舞娘》对他的触动最大。拍摄期间，他一次次的往返南宁，他将自己完全置身于那里的场景，也真正地走进了他们内心。
After his film was released, the drag queen bar became well known, picking up coverage from multiple media outlets and documentary groups. Fan says, “After watching my film, they all went and produced different stories on the drag queens, with different angles and interpretations, showing them in a different light and making it more interesting. In this way, it was as if my film continued to live on after I finished it, instead of ending the story and just sitting on the shelf.”
这部影片的播出，让那些变装酒吧声名大噪，各大媒体及纪录片小组对此争相报道。范自己说到：“看了我的影片之后，他们都开始用不同角度去诠释变装皇后的故事，让它变得更有意思。这样，就好像是我影片的延续，而不是一个已经被搁置在货架上完结的作品。”
As a kid, Fan preferred to spend his days reading and daydreaming. Growing up in rural Jiangsu province in southern China, his parents were often absent working long days farming and fishing for his family of five. Having no previous experience in filmmaking, he says he got into the Beijing Film Academy because he couldn’t get into other schools with poor math grades. His love of film came later as he started collecting a large number of LGBT movies in film school.
从小在江苏省的农村长大的他，父母每天都忙于耕作和捕鱼。小时候的他就只爱整天看看书做做白日梦。家里也没有任何人与电影行业有关，他自嘲去北京电影学院完全是因为他的数学成绩太差考不上其它学校。而他对电影的真正热爱则始于在校期间收集的大量同性恋电影。
“Watching these films had the power to change people’s minds,” he says after homophobic classmates eventually became supporters of LGBT culture. Before graduating, Fan published the book Happy Together: Complete Record of 100 Queer Films. To date, Fan has made six documentaries, authored one book, and serves as the director of the Beijing Queer Film Festival.
他在自己的恐同症同学最终成为同性恋文化支持者之后说：“这些电影有着改变人们观念的力量。”毕业前，他出版了一本名为《春光乍泄：百部同志电影全纪录》的书。迄今为止，范一共拍摄了六部纪录片，出版了一本书，并成为北京酷儿影像展的总导演。
“Films are just films, they’re not as important as living. Film shouldn’t interrupt life. Film lives as a part of life, but life doesn’t live in a film.” – Fan Popo“电影仅仅只是电影，它不像生存那样重要，电影不应该妨碍生活。电影存在于生活的一部分，但生活并不是电影。” – 范坡坡
As a full-time filmmaker, Fan is a one-man band of director, cinematographer, and editor. In his early days in low-budget filmmaking, Fan carried his gear in a giant backpack traveling great distances on public transportation. Funding has always been an issue. Every project is self-funded and driven out of his bedroom in a working-class compound near Beijing’s Third Ring Road.
作为一个全职的电影人，范一个人包揽了导演，摄影和剪辑的工作。在早期预算极低的情况下，他会一个人背着装有沉重拍摄器材的旅行包，使用各种公共交通工具完成长距离的拍摄工作。资金始终都是一个问题，每一个项目他都要自掏腰包，后期工作也是在他自住的北京三环外的普通居民楼里完成。
The Beijing Queer Film Festival is similarly guerilla-style. Established in 2001, the festival has survived 13 years of raids, arrests, venue changes, warnings and threats. Despite the difficulties he faces, Fan continues to be prolific and optimistic. “As the LGBT community in China becomes more visible in art and culture, we are slowly leaving the fringes and creating our own space in society.”
北京酷儿影像展也是处于打游击的状态。影像展于2001年发起，在过去的13年中经历了突袭，抓捕，更改场地，警告甚至威胁。尽管这个这个展面临重重困难，但范依旧抱着积极乐观的心态。“随着同性恋群体在中国艺术及文化圈的渐渐发声，我们逐渐摆脱边缘文化，开始创造出属于我们自己的空间。”
“I love the German director Fassbinder. His stories were always changing and his personality was very theatrical. All of these traits and false layers added together is actually what reveals his true self. This is what is interesting about film to me. You have to watch a lot of films to be able to understand a person or a world.”
“我很喜欢德国导演Fassbinder。他的故事总是很多变，他的个性也非常富有戏剧性。所有这些特质层层叠加揭示出一个真正的他。这就是电影吸引我的地方，你必须要去看大量的电影才能看懂一个人或一个世界。”
