There are a lot of LGBT cultural events going on here in NYC. There are a lot of Chinese cultural events, too. And we know there are an overwhelming number of film festivals. But very rarely do all three of these elements converge at the same time, in the same place, with both “Chinese” and “LGBT” in the event title!

So it’s pretty noteworthy that the nonprofit Asia Catalyst is putting on a small film festival from September 5 to 7 at the LGBT Center, called Comrades: The Chinese LGBT Film Festival with the tagline “Banned in Beijing, Out in New York.” Asia Catalyst’s website explains the title:

The old Communist term “comrade” has a secret meaning—it’s used by some gay and bisexual people in China to refer to themselves. We took it as the title of the film festival in order to stand alongside our Chinese comrades, whose work cannot always be freely seen in their own country.

The films were to be part of a gay film festival in Beijing, but they were banned by authorities.