Absolutely No Sexual Favors je pense à toi

I began this project with a sense of loss over what I had long held onto and an urge to grasp something tangible in the face of abruptness or ambiguity.

“Absolutely No Sexual Favors,” “je pense à toi,” and “吾想汝顯”—the eventual film title—might seem like a random juxtaposition, but this trilingual entanglement reflects my short stay in Paris: a liminal period in which I navigated my memories and vulnerabilities, while language and geographical boundaries seemed to matter less. It also left me thinking about what to say, what to withhold, and what remains unspoken.

“Je pense à toi” is a tender expression not without resilience, unbothered by what has been lost or what remains lost in translation. The Chinese title translates to a longing for someone to emerge from a formless outline. It may refer to a specific person or a part of my hidden self waiting to be revealed.

Inspired by Qiu Miaojin’s final work, Last Words from Montmartre (1996), the film is therefore an experiment in understanding queer intimacy in transit. Returning to this familiar yet distant setting and channeling both past and present, I found myself constantly asking throughout the film: What if?