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Desiree's latest film is Here
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Desiree's latest film is Here
Desiree's MySpace
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BIOGRAPHY
DESIREE LIM is a second generation Chinese born in Malaysia. She has spent her adolescent years in Japan where she obtained her BA in Journalism at Sophia University in Tokyo. For the past ten years, Desiree has been actively involved in independent filmmaking in Tokyo working from a queer artist's perspective on the themes of gender and sexuality. She has relocated from Tokyo to Vancouver in 2001 to further pursue her filmmaking career in the North American independent film industry.
She has traveled extensively in Asia working as both Producer and Director producing news features and documentaries at one of Japan's biggest TV networks, TV Asahi. Her experience working in international co-productions of news and documentaries programs for broadcast television, carries through in her style and vision in dramatic filmmaking till this day. Her vision as a cross-cultural, cross-gendered filmmaker contours the artistic flavor and humor in her works.
Desiree has co-written and directed her debut narrative Japanese language feature "Sugar Sweet" in the summer of 2001. "Sugar Sweet" is the first lesbian commercial feature ever made by a queer filmmaker in Japan. It has made its world premiere at the 10th Tokyo International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival (2001) to critical acclaim, and has opened to sold out audiences at lesbian and gay film festivals all across North America in Miami, San Francisco, New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. The film was also invited to the prestigious Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, and film festivals in Rochester, Tampa, Seattle, Berlin, Hamburg, Bremen, Paris, Amsterdam, New Zealand and Australia. Her recent new works in Vancouver include an acting debut in a film festival trailer that she directed and edited for the 2002 Vancouver Queer Video and Film Festival, which was aired on City TV, Showcase, Pride Vision and the Documentary Channel. Her new experimental short is a collaboration with Vancouver artist Winston Xin called "Salty Wet" which made its world premiere at the 2002 Vancouver Queer Video and Film Festival and its US premiere at the 2003 San Francisco Asian Film Festival. |
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FILM & TV EXPERIENCE
DRAMATIC FEATURE SUGAR SWEET (2001) Debut narrative feature (SKYPERFECTV/ Japan) Co-writer/Director
DRAMATIC SHORTS BUBBLE TEA OUT IN THE SUN (2003) TV short drama for "Cinecity" (Citytv / Canada) Co-Writer/Director
SNACKS! (2003)
FESTIVAL FAIRY (2002)
MOM, DAD, I'M... (2002)
DISPOSABLE LEZ (2000)
CLOSETS ARE FOR CLOTHES (1995)
EXPERIMENTAL SHORTS DYKE?JUST BE IT (1999) Independent short (Japan) Writer /Director/Videographer/Editor
eRoTiCiSm (2001)
SALTY WET (2002)
DOCUMENTARIES MY MOTHER, MY HERO (2002) Documentary series (SHAW MULTICULTURAL, DELTA CABLE) Production Coordinator
WOMEN BREAKING BOUNDARIES (2001)
NATURAL MYSTERY (1999)
SPACESHIP EARTH (1998)
NEWS MAGAZINE SHOWS PLUGGED IN "OUTLOOK TV" (2002) (SHAW CABLE) Video Journalist / Reporter CLICK ON JAPAN (1999) (TV ASAHI / JAPAN ) Video Journalist
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP Women In Film & Video Vancouver |
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GRANTS & AWARDS
4Selected participant of the Features First Program by National Screen Institute of Canada (2003)
4Professional Development Grants from the National Film Board, BC Film, British Columbia
Arts Council and Women In Film & Video Vancouver for the Women In Director's Chair Workshop (2003)
4Production Grant from British Columbia Arts Council (2003)
4Finalist for the Reel Diversity competition of the National Film Board/CBC/Vision TV (2003)
4Cultural Diversity Professional Intern Grant from the National Film Board (2002)
4Travel Grant to international film festivals from the Canada Arts Council (2002)
4Finalist in the Third Annual PlanetOut.com Short Movie Awards (2001)
4First Runner-up for the Tokyo International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival Film & Video Award(1995)
CRITICAL REVIEWS Xtrawest (Vancouver, 2002),Georgia Straight (Vancouver, 2002) Vancouver Courier (Vancouver, 2002),Vancouver Shinpo (Vancouver, 2002) Variety.com (Los Angeles, 2002),Lesbian News (Los Angeles, 2002), San Francisco Bay Times (San Francisco, 2002),TWN Weekly (Miami, 2002) Miami New Times (Miami, 2002),Femin (Tokyo, 2001) |
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What do they say…… "Engaging dyke seriocomedy "Sugar Sweet" reps Japan's first fictive feature by and about lesbians... a promising calling card for Chinese-born, Malaysian-raised Nippon helmer Desiree Lim." Variety Magazine
"It's as campy and sex-filled as it sounds, a rambunctious trip through Japanese urban dyke culture that - thanks to director Desiree Lim's unflinchingly radical vision and plenty of hot girl-on-girl action - leaves you panting for more."
"Desiree Lim's "Sugar Sweet" is a sexy, stylish, and even romantic film featuring three beautiful actresses, a fresh script, and an exhilarating view of female sexuality."
"The actresses here are smart and eye-catching, and the sex is definitely hot!"
"Brash and sexy, the film is one of the very few narrative films about a filmmaker that actually works !"
"Desiree Lim, the first out queer filmmaker in Japan to direct a lesbian feature, turns in a delightfully sassy, saucy and sexy feature debut...Delightful and whimsical, SUGAR SWEET creates a fascinating, fun girl world of sex toys, gossip and romance."
"SUGAR SWEET is a fun, sexually charged romp through Japan's metropolis with plenty of eye candy, innuendoes, fantasy, vibrators, strap-ons, and nipple clamps. The vivid dyke underground is steeped in exotic women, fetish foreplay, and safe sex, but director Desiree Lim skillfully blends eroticism with romanticism."
"Lim's direction is effective, given her extremely limited resources. Her camera work is dynamic and expressive....Sugar Sweet is a no-budget, run-and-gun production, but its shoot-from-the-hip style fits the fast-and-loose subject and assists the deliberate movie-within-a-movie confusion."
Sweet as it is, don't be fooled by the title - there are not just empty calories here. Director Desiree Lim treats us to a rare glimpse of Japanese urban dyke culture, makes a pointed jab at the male-dominated porn industry, and creates a believable portrait of long-term relationships in these trying times. And, if you're wondering, Lim succeeds where Naomi does not - there's some fantastic XXX girl-on-girl action (complete with cellophane and blindfolds) that really shouldn't be missed. |
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| More info about Desiree's work can be found out: |
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