Chinese director Yon Fan will be the guest of the 2002 Australian Mardi Gras Film Festival, (Sydney, Feb 13-24) as part of a special focus on contemporary gay Asian cinema that will see the screening of features from South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Hong Kong.

Fan's trilogy Bugis Street (1994), Bishonen (1998) and the recently completed Peony Pavilion (2001) are each themed around trans-gender, gay, and now lesbian sexuality.

"Building on the success of the Spanish series last year we are very excited to present a body of work from Asia," said festival director Richard King, adding that no other festival in the world has screened Fan's trilogy. "While attitudes to queer issues differ greatly in the diverse countries in this region, the issues remain the same and it is fantastic to have the opportunity to see and compare this. Also, the number and quality of films produced in the last couple of years made this an obvious choice."

Other films from Asia include Stanley Kwan's Lan Yu (2001, Hong Kong), Jofei Chen's Incidental Journey (2001, Taiwan), Hsu Li-kong and Chi Yin's Fleeing by Night (Ye Ben) (2000, Taiwan), Kim Tae-yong and Min Kyu-dong's Memento Mori (Yeogo Goedam II) (2000, South Korea) and Shindo Kaze's Love/Juice (2000, Japan).