PYUUPIRU @ GFF

If you're a fellow Weegie it can't have escaped your notice that the ever-awesome Glasgow Film Festival has been running this month. Sadly it ends tomorrow, though there is an amazing-looking film about Beat legend William S Burroughs on today which y'all should run and catch if possible...

Anyway last night I had the pleasure of the lovely Ayden from Little Blog of Horrors's company at the screening of Japanese director Daishi Matsunaga's documentary, Pyuupiru 2001-2008.



A series of Self Portraits by Pyuupiru


The film follows the acclaimed transgendered Japanese visual artist and former club kid Pyuupiru over his 7 year transformation from man to... woman? Well, no, not exactly. He has castration surgery but not gender reassignment surgery, so I guess technically he exists somewhere between the two. He explains near the beginning of the film how he wants to transform himself into the character of Pyuupiru who is neither male nor female, but purely artistic expression.... It's safe to say that by the end of his journey he's achieved that.



Sorry it's in Japanese - there is no trailer with English subs - grrr!


Over the seven years we see him transform physically and artistically, and it's clear the two journeys are intrinsically linked. It's his gender identity, sexual and emotional frustration, and burning desire to create which powers his work, and in turn his work helps him to come to peace with his true self.

The most moving part of the documentary for me was the completion of his "Light and Hope" installation involving the suspension of 50,000 gold origami  paper cranes in long strings over an 8m high cone. FRUSTRATINGLY there are no pictures online (not that I can find anyway, but let me know if you come across any) but trust me when I say it was a spectacular sight! Pyuupiru made 32,000 cranes himself and appealed for fans and members of the public to submit the rest... Dedication or what.

Watching him in an old manky t-shirt, slaving away over the installation for months and literally working his fingers to the bone to create something so magical and beautiful was truly inspiring. I felt it gave him as an artist a certian level of credibility which his perhaps most famous work, Planetaria, had lacked. I ain't no art buff but something about the Light and Hope piece left me with a lump in my throat...

Hilarious at times, and wholly unpretentious, if you get a chance to see this anywhere I recommend you do yourself a favour and go and see it.

The night was bookended by a hilarious opening speech by Glasgow's resident drag divas, Vanity Von Glow and Lady Munter, and rounded off with a fabulous fashion show showcasing some of Glasgow's finest including Obscure Couture and TORRES - expect to be hearing these names ever more frequently in 2011...

SO All in all it was a great night. Thanks to Urban Outfitters and Illamasqua for providing us with top-notch goody bags, Ayden and myself had great fun rifling through them :) Unfortunately we couldn't stay to enjoy the after party with Pam Hogg on the decks which was GUTTING to say the least but such is the perks of working 8-6 every Saturday in life...

Muchos thanks go to Claire from ITCOW and Bee Waits For No One who did a sterling job organising the event - Cheers chickadee!



The rest of my weekend will be spent working, finishing off some uni work, sleeping and preparing for my first day at the BBC on Monday for work experience - can't wait! Have a goodun bloggies :)

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