The Beauty of Ballroom

PHL/SGP/IDN/BRD 2025, Documentary, 96 min, FSK 12Director: Chan Sze-Wei · Original version with subtitles (Mandarin Chinese, Malay, Thai, Norwegian, English, Filipino with German subtitles)With: Sun, Teddy, Xyza
In Malaysia, Teddy finds the closeness and self-affirmation in Ballroom that he lacked in his childhood marked by violence. In the Philippines, Xyza transforms experiences of rejection and colorism into a movement of visibility and empowerment. In Thailand, Sun uses Ballroom and performance art to process questions of origin, family, and queer identity and to give marginalized voices a platform. Inspired by the Black and Latin American Ballroom culture of New York, Teddy, Xyza, and Sun are building their own Ballroom communities in Southeast Asia, creating safe spaces for people affected by homophobia, transphobia, colorism, and social exclusion. Chan Sze-Wei observes and documents alternative stories, identities, and social issues, exploring how they are expressed in the body, in movement, and in art. Between Voguing, performance, and chosen family, Sze's latest work tells the story of three artists who live Ballroom not just as a dance form, but as an act of survival, healing, and resistance.