In Hongkong cinema, there are in fact a surprising number of films that deal intelligently with race, gender and sexual orientation (less so with class it seems). The director Shu Kei is particularly interesting. Check on Hu-Du-Men (1996) and A Queer Story (1997). The later is one of the most intelligent "mainstream" (narrative, commercial, intended for a wide-audience, high production values, etc.) films I have seen on gay male identity and both are terrific entertainment value. They have the added benefit of showing your students that more comes out of HK than action pics. You should also check out Bhaji on the Beach - about an Indian woman in Britain, her generational/cultural struggle, relationship with a black man, etc. - which could be paired with Mississippi Masala, a film that basically traverses the same terrain in America. Both are interesting (but particularly Masala) for interrogating any simple notion of an "Indian" identity which is maintained/abandoned in relation to the new Anglo culture/identity. Good postcolonial/postmodern fair. Both directed by women. From Japan, you should check out Okoge, which is about a young woman and the group of gay men she gets involved with. Class is, as usual, the missing term. I'll have to do some thinking here, but two American "strike" movies come to mind. John Sayles Matewan touches on both class and race, while the infamous blacklisted Salt of the Earth deals with race, class AND gender, and there is enough critical work on both, especially Salt, to make them good teaching films. _____________________________________________________________________ Nick Chapman [log in to unmask] http://www.umich.edu/~nwc Program in American Culture, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor MI 48109-1027 USA There can, of course, be no apolitical scholarship. -- Chandra Talpade Mohanty _____________________________________________________________________ ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite http://www.tcf.ua.edu/screensite