LOVERS GOES INDUSTRY 2022
TALES OF TEA
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ORIGINAL TITLE: Tales of Tea
DIRECTOR: Erich Rettstadt PRODUCERS: Erich Rettstadt, Anita Tung, C.K. Hugo Chung COUNTRY: Taiwan, USA RUNNING TIME: Half-Hour Anthology Series [Proof of Concept: Tank Fairy, 09:31] GENRE: Fiction, Drama, TV Series STATUS OF THE PROJECET: Development Goals at Lovers Goes Industry: Funds, Co-producers DIRECTOR’S FILMOGRAPHY Tank Fairy, 2021, Short Film State Debate, 2012, Short Film ONE-SENTENCE SYNOPSIS TALES OF TEA is a half-hour musical comedy anthology series that showcases drag performers from around the world in celebratory, culturally-specific narratives. SYNOPSIS TALES OF TEA is a scripted anthology series that builds a colorful world of drag queen and king protagonists, showcasing an inclusive, international spectrum of queer artists in joyful, slice-of-life narratives. Within this drag cinematic universe, performers are never seen “out of drag,” only as the characters that exist within each episode. Each season is set in a different country to showcase local LGBTQ+ artists and share culturally-specific stories that affirm our common humanity, a format established in Season One: Taiwan. From a pork vendor in a traditional market to a tea worker picking high mountain oolong, from a motorbike-straddling gas tank delivery person to a pole dancer who performs at funerals, each “tale” in Season One will star a different drag protagonist and highlight a new, distinctly Taiwanese story. TANK FAIRY, an Official Selection at the 37th Lovers Film Festival, is a proof-of-concept for the series and demonstrates how a drag performer will be seamlessly integrated into the TALES OF TEA narrative format. DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT Drag is all around us. It's the costume we put on in the morning, the character we play to survive in this unwieldy world. To the initiated, drag is an act of defiance against confining social structures and an opportunity to actualize a higher self. TALES OF TEA celebrates the power of drag in our everyday lives. My ever-evolving definition of drag was first forged in the dive bars of Brooklyn where stages teem with undeniable talent and glisten with unidentifiable bodily fluids. After relocating to Taipei, I found camaraderie in queer spaces, connecting with the same vibrant, brazen energy of live drag shows on the other side of the planet. In collaboration with my Taiwanese partner, I embarked on developing a project to capture the art form’s ubiquitous allure. By casting drag performers as bona fide characters within scripted content, TALES OF TEA aims to diversify drag visibility in our contemporary media landscape. At present, the representation of drag in film and television is largely confined to reality and documentary formats. The synthesis of drag and episodic storytelling creates critical opportunities to question social norms, foreground LGBTQ+ and BIPOC narratives and to provoke and engage the viewing public. TALES OF TEA builds a new platform for underrepresented queer artists all around the world by embracing the true potential of drag as a creative medium. DIRECTOR’S BIO Erich Rettstadt is a queer American filmmaker and theater artist whose work emphasizes inclusivity and escapism. He graduated from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and USC’s School of Cinematic Arts. His film TANK FAIRY premiered at SXSW 2022 and won the Midnight Shorts Audience Award. Additionally, the film has screened at Santa Barbara, Seattle, Oberhausen and Kaohsiung Film Festivals. Erich and his partner Tai live in Taipei and are developing TALES OF TEA as a musical comedy anthology series. PRODUCER’S BIO Anita Tung received her MFA in producing from Beijing Film Academy. She has participated in many international co-productions including LIFE OF PI, SILENCE and the Netflix show NOWHERE MAN. She also has years of experience promoting Taiwan cinema to the international market. C.K. Hugo Chung is a bicultural writer-producer for Spotlight Entertainment, a boutique production/distribution company based in Taipei. He has distributed more than thirty films and coproduced programs in Taiwan and the US. |