Japanese queer cinema: Funeral Parade of Roses (1969) Peter

A landmark of Japanese avant-garde cinema, the film blends fiction and experimentation into a fragmented portrait of queer life in late-1960s Tokyo. Peter, who would become one of Japan’s most famous queer actor and entertainers, made his screen debut here at just sixteen. He was personally chosen by the director Matsumoto Toshio. This edit is not meant as a voyeuristic gaze upon Peter, but as an exploration of his vulnerability as a queer person, and of the divide between what could be lived by day and what found another kind of freedom in the clubs at night. The choice of Ethel Cain’s “Gibson Girl” adds another layer: the paradox between the ideal of the “perfect girl” and an identity that is different, ambiguous and desired, yet also shaped by the pain of living outside what society considers acceptable — and by the hidden desire of men who seek out those who embody what they cannot openly admit to wanting. Rather than retelling the film, I wanted to create a small emotional space around Peter, something that could be felt even without knowing the film. Avangarde arthouse cinema queer. A maserpiece before modern bl series. 薔薇の葬列 Bara no Sōretsu with ピーター (Pītā) 池畑 慎之介 #queer #lgbt #queercinema #cinemaqueer