Hao Zhou’s documentary “Correct Me If I’m Wrong 如你所愿” begins with a close-up. It’s the face of Zhou’s grandmother, who’s fervently calling out to the spirit world.
“Demon Girl, you must leave,” the elderly woman intones with her eyes closed. “Demon Girl, you must leave; Demon Girl, you must leave.”
Zhou, also with eyes closed, then hears grandma declare: “My grandson doesn’t belong to you.”
This sets the stage for the Kenyon College assistant professor‘s astonishing and disturbing autobiographical film. Zhou, who uses the pronoun “they”, grew up in a Sichuan-speaking family in southwestern China. Grandmother and other family members believe that Zhou, who is 35 years old, is possessed by a female spirit.
Why? Because Zhou’s mother was forced to have an abortion in the one-child era. So, on a trip back home, Zhou endures a series of ceremonies, rituals, and treatments to give grandmother and mother space to exorcise this supposed demon girl and banish gender ambiguity from the family. And the family willingly allows Zhou to document this in this emotionally charged 23-minute film.
In the hands of a less assured director, “Correct Me If I’m Wrong 如你所愿” had the potential to slide into a stigmatizing farce about the cruelty of superstition-based LGBT conversion therapy in China. But Zhou, who has a growing oeuvre of LGBT-focused films, retains grandma’s dignity—notwithstanding her outlandish beliefs. She is a misguided matriarch devoted to her grandson’s well-being. That, along with outstanding cinematography, makes Zhou’s documentary all the more painful.
Correct Me follows DOXA award winner
China is a vast country and trans and queer people face varying levels of persecution, depending on where they live. In that respect, there are parallels with the United States and Europe.
However, the Guardian has reported that things are getting worse for queer folks in China as the country “pushes increasingly conservative values”. This stands in contrast to Taiwan, where same-sex marriage was legalized in 2019. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that attitudes are hardening in China as it becomes more inwardly focused, just as persecution against trans folks is on the rise in increasingly xenophobic America.
Zhou’s previous film, “Wouldn’t Make It Any Other Way”, won the Short Documentary Award at last year’s DOXA fest. It also won Best Documentary at the Aspen Shortfest and Indy Shorts International Film Festival. Moreover, it captured short documentary awards at the Independent Film Festival of Boston and the Indie Memphis Film Festival.
Meanwhile, Zhou’s 2014 feature film about the lives of male and female sex workers in China, The Night, won the Best Film award and the Critics Prize at the Black Movie Film Festival. Zhou also acted in The Night, which was nominated for Best First Feature Award at the Berlin International Film Festival.
No one should be surprised if “Correct Me If I’m Wrong 如你所愿” racks up a similar list of honours. It’s a brave film about a difficult and important subject. And it reinforces why the Immigration and Refugee Board Canada must consider pleas from persecuted nonbinary claimants from China with a great deal of compassion.
Watch the trailer (above) for Hao Zhou’s new film.
Event details
The DOXA Documentary Film Festival will present “Correct Me If I’m Wrong 如你所愿” at 5:20 p.m. on May 3 in the VIFF Centre’s Lochmaddy Studio Theatre. It’s part of the Shorts Program 1 | What’s Left to Form, which includes five other documentary shorts. For tickets and information, visit the DOXA festival website.
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