Yūrei Ga Tōru (2014)

 

Shannon Lester is the co-founder of drag-based performance art collective Kiss Kiss Bang Bang formed in Osaka, Japan in 2010. In the Fall of 2013 they made this film, Yūrei Ga Tōru, which premiered in Osaka on January 25th, 2014. The film is the culmination of the many years of hard work of Michael Judd (co-founder of KKBB) and Lester to bring their dreams of exploring their alter-egos, and alternate realities into fruition. This film explores many dream-like spaces and was very much about expressing their interest in bringing things that are considered to be ‘dark’ or 'taboo' into the light. Furthermore, KKBB's headwomen are not your conventional queens and have made a point of pushing themselves to explore as many different aspects of their characters as possible for this film. They ran the full gamut from river spirits to elderly ladies, circus freaks, reverential witches, glamazon cannibals, jaded fashion models, twisted nurses and S&M plastic surgery addicts. The film itself was an ode to Osaka, and also an exploration of the deep bond between these ancient women, Sasha Zamolodchikova and Belgium Solanas. For more information on KKBB, please visit their website at www.kkbbcollective.com