Private Project

Rarely Normal

Gouzi is an excellent soccer player, but destiny sends countless curveballs her way. She has been living with a rare disease for 11 years, and during that time she fell critically ill 6 times, she was paralyzed 11 times, and lost her hearing 4 times. Yet she keeps on living her life with a playful and staunch spirit.

Queerness, disability, life, love, affection and survival are just some of the pieces she uses to puzzle together her own true self.

  • Yaoyao
    Director
  • Stijn Deklerck
    Producer
  • Shi Tou
    Producer
  • Xiaogang Wei
    Producer
  • Xiaoxiao
    Producer
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    37 minutes 50 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    July 1, 2017
  • Country of Origin:
    China
  • Country of Filming:
    China
  • Language:
    Chinese
  • Shooting Format:
    HD
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Beijing Queer Film Festival (Love Queer Cinema Week)
    Beijing
    China
    November 5, 2017
Director Biography - Yaoyao

Yaoyao (Jinan, Shandong Province, China) took part in the LGBTQI video capacity building training "Queer University" in March 2012. She was one of 2 participants selected to realize her debut documentary with full support from the Chinese LGBTQI webcast Queer Comrades. Her debut film "Brothers" is China's first documentary to focus on the female - to - male transgender community, and is generally considered a milestone in the history of the development of transgender communities and organizations in China.
Yaoyao subsequently continued both her filmmaking and activist activities in China, and has worked for various LGBTQI NGOs. "Rarely Normal" is Yaoyao's second documentary, and uses an intersectional lens to explore how queerness, disability, love, life and survival come together in the person of Gouzi, who was been living with a rare disease for 11 years.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Filming Gouzi for 3 years, I gradually learned the meaning of life. Maybe life isn't fair to everyone, but we can always interpret and decode our life in a wild and rebellious way.