Iron Ladies are all-conquering queens

What do you get when you take drag queens out of the Outback and on to a volleyball court? Another hit movie,
writes HELEN BARLOW.

Just as The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert re-invigorated the Australian film industry a decade ago, Iron Ladies has done it for Thailand.

Telling the true story of a championship-winning volleyball team made up of transsexuals, drag queens and gay men, the film has taken in nine times its $US250,000 ($590,000) budget in Thailand alone.

It has been a hit throughout Asia and now looks poised to conquer the globe.

Iron Ladies has already won the audience award at Sydney's Gay Mardi Gras Film Festival and is the opening night film at the Outtakes Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in Auckland.

"This movie always surprises me," says 34-year-old Yonyooth Thongkonthun, the film's chubby, smiley director.

"When we started this project we didn't expect anything like this at all, we just thought we had made a good movie."So many people like it because it's a feelgood movie.

"I have a lot of gay friends and colleagues who I've met through my job as a commercials director, and that experience changed my attitude about them, even if they have a different lifestyle. This is a story everyone can understand."

Iron Ladies can, of course, be viewed as a sporting movie about the underdogs coming up and winning, with the added poignancy that the story is true.

It probably helps that Thai people are used to ritual and dance as part of their Buddhist culture and seem to find it easy to be colourful.

The director introduces three of his cast members as April, May and June. The three men, two of whom are twins, wear identical outfits, have bleached streaks in their 60s-style fringes and wear wild fluorescent watches in lime green, pink and orange.

They pose for the cameras and are naturals, even if their command of English is minimal. It turns out that one works as a fashion stylist, another as a casting agent, and the third runs a modelling agency, where the transsexual Kokkorn Benjatkul (or Coco), who plays the film's stunning cabaret performer, works as a catwalk model.

There is also a straight rock star in the cast, Sahaparp Virakamintr.

"Most were newcomers, both to acting and volleyball, so we organised a three-month workshop to prepare for the shoot," Thongkonthun explains.

One of the film's strengths comes from its use of music, particularly the songs composed by the coach (Sirithana Hongsophol) in the movie.

"They're like 70s songs," says Thongkonthun.

"I listened to many gay pop songs. We have a company that produces albums, and I chose the songs in the style I thought my gay friends would like.

"The final song talks about a dream, that anyone can have a dream and be happy."

Since Iron Ladies' release, fan mail has been pouring into the film's website at the rate of about 3000 a day.

"It's not only gays who are thanking us for the film, but straights and parents of gay people as well. They tell us that this film makes them better understand this kind of situation, how to deal with this kind of family matter."

The film has also increased the popularity of volleyball in Thailand.

"Football is the favourite sport, like in most places, but I really wondered when we went to the volleyball stadium why I didn't see any women, only men and, mostly, transgenders practising," Thongkonthun recalls. "Now we have many more teams building up."

He is proud that the film has created a craze.

Movies, of course, don't have to stick to the facts. Was the score in the final game really that close?

"They won three sets straight," he laughs, "but we had to put some drama into the story."

* Iron Ladies screens as the opening night film in the Outtakes Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, at Village Queen St, on Friday at 7.30 pm. The festival runs from Friday May 25 to Tuesday June 5 at Village Queen St and Sky City Theatre.

Links:

Outtakes Gay and Lesbian Film Festival