Page 1 / 2 / 3 - Home

AE: Are gay audiences different than straight?
AB: Gay audiences are interesting because they all have something in common. We’ve all gone through the same things. We’ve all had to come out. That’s an amazing shared experience. When you go to a gay film festival, you’re pretty much wearing your sexuality on your sleeve, walking in or out of the theater.

At Frameline, or at OUTfest [in San Francisco and LA, respectively], it’s really not such a big thing. But in Colorado Springs, you can encounter people yelling “fag” at you from their cars. That happened just a couple years ago.

AE: You even went to Manila with Eating Out, didn’t you?
AB: It was amazing. There were all these teenagers in the audience who had never seen any gay film projected on a big screen, little lone with an audience of gay people. It was held in a mega-mall, so they had to go down this long hall with a big pink carpet, right along side drag queens. To go to the festival, you pretty much had to be out in that predominately Catholic country. The Philippines make this country look liberal, which takes a lot of doing.

AE: You have the image of being young, hip, good-looking gay man. You’re pretty good at public relations, aren’t you?
AB: Are you talking about my shirtless pictures on my website (laughing)? Yeah, that’s part of building a fan base, which is very important to me.

I wrote a column for The Advocate, which has a very specific voice. My writing style has a very specific voice, and I want people to respond to that. It also has something to do with just providing images of gay Filipino Americans. There aren’t many. I’m really vocal about who I am, and putting myself out there. I remember wondering if I would be brave enough to come to LA and be a filmmaker. I remember seeing other filmmakers and trying to figure out who they were, and what their story was. That was really, really important to me.

One of the people I enjoyed finding out about most was filmmaker Quentin Lee (Ethan Mao, Drift and Shopping for Fangs). I said, “Oh my god, there’s a gay Asian filmmaker who’s name is Quentin. Oh my god!” And I learned everything I could about him.

AE: You love making movies, don’t you?
AB: Filmmaking is hard work, but you can’t let the lack of money or connections stop you. In film school, I had to make a film, but I didn’t have any friends yet, or even a camera. But I had a set of Lego’s. I shot the first Rick & Steve film in three weeks, just sitting there by myself, making the characters out of Lego’s. And I’d do it all over again.

For more info on Eating Out, check out Q. Allan Brocka's official site

Page 1 / 2 / 3 - Home