Homecoming premiere of Tracy Choi’s ‘Girlfriends’ explores identity and belonging

[Photo; Lynzy Valles]

Macau director Tracy Choi premiered her latest film, “Girlfriends,” in the city on Friday, bringing home a film that has already travelled the regional festival circuit.

Screened to a full house at MGM Macau, the boldly intimate film had earlier premiered in Busan and secured nominations at the Hong Kong Film Awards.

The film returns to Macau, where Choi says the story itself was born, exploring the themes of identity, heartbreak and belonging.

The Girlfriends film began during the Covid-19 pandemic, when travel restrictions and lockdowns forced many in the creative industries into a standstill.

“We started the script during Covid-19. We had nothing to do and nowhere to go,” Choi recalled in an interview with the Times ahead of the premiere. “So I began to think about what I should do as a creator.”

Questioned on the idea behind the film and how closely it relates to her, Choi said, “I thought I could tell a story about a girl growing up in Macau: more about myself, how I grew up in Macau, or how girls grow up in Macau or Asia, and about feeling boundaries or limitations.”

Shot in just one month across Macau, Hong Kong and Taiwan, the 100-minute film traces its protagonist at three stages of life – at 18, 22 and 34 – examining love, identity and the pressures of conformity.

Although Girlfriends centers on an LGBT relationship, Choi resists reducing it to a single-issue narrative.

“From the very beginning, it came from my own experience,” she said. As the script evolved, other collaborators contributed their perspectives.

“The scriptwriter, the producer, the actors – everybody added their own story. I enjoyed that very much because it allows the film to connect with different audiences, not only girls and not only the LGBT community. Anyone can relate to first love, past relationships, or love in reality.”

One of the film’s central ideas is the notion of being “ordinary.” In the story, the main character writes a script titled “Be Ordinary,” reflecting the expectations placed on young women in many Asian societies.

However, the idea of being “ordinary” evolves as the protagonist moves through different stages of life.

“When you’re young, you feel the boundaries. When you go to college, you think you’re free and can be extraordinary, but sometimes that makes you feel lost. And when you’re in your thirties and life becomes hard, you might think that just being ordinary is enough.”

Asked what she hoped audiences would take away from the film, Choi said she wanted it to leave viewers with a sense of hope.

“At the end, I wish we can give some hope to the audience – to think about what you really want and who you really want to be,” she said. “As long as you can live as yourself, that’s the main thing we care about.”

Financing a project, however, remains an ongoing challenge for filmmakers in Macau, particularly for stories centered on women and LGBT themes.

“Talking about investment is a bit hard,” Choi said. “Especially for films on female topics. Some investors don’t think it will be a big box-office success. And when it comes to LGBT themes, they may feel it’s not a good sell.”

“Luckily, we received funding from the Macau government at the beginning, and MGM supported us locally at a very crucial time,” she said. “That allowed us to keep pushing the project forward.”

The production has since secured distribution partners in Hong Kong and Taiwan, expanding its reach beyond Macau.

Choi also noted structural limitations within the local industry.

“Macau is still too small, and we don’t have enough filmmakers,” she said with a laugh. “If we have two local film crews working at the same time, that’s already the maximum. If we need a third one, we will feel the shortage.”

Still, the local director sees gradual growth as more creatives return to the city after studying abroad. “Compared with the time of Sisterhood, there is more filmmaking now,” she said. “People are coming back from Beijing, from the US, from Europe. The community is growing.”

The local director started her first film in 2016 called “Sisterhood,” which was part of the first round of the government’s feature film funding.

For Choi, filmmaking is ultimately a way to present a different image of Macau – one that moves beyond its casino-driven global reputation.

Choi, who works across Macau, Hong Kong and Taiwan, early support helped bring Macau-made cinema to a wider audience. “They pushed us outside Macau and let more people see a Macau movie,” she said, referring to the festival exposure that followed.

Cinema, she added, is a form of communication. “For me, filming is a way to communicate – how you want to communicate with the world, and how you want to portray Macau.”

As Girlfriends begins its local run, Choi said she hopes audiences will take away a simple message: “Find the thing – or the person – that you love, and stick to it.”

Girlfriends will run in cinemas starting March 5.