what does the title "10s across the borders" mean?

"10s Across the Borders" is a play on the phrase "10s across the board!" that commentators in the underground Ballroom scene will say at a ball when you receive a full score of 10 from all the judges on the panel, and qualify to move on to battle others in your category. "10s Across the Board" is a term recognisable to anyone connected with the ballroom scene, or who has watched Paris is Burning, POSE, Legendary or Kiki. It's also a term that has been co-opted in the Drag scene, fashion, modelling and general queer slang.

Our title emerged organically at a brainstorming session in 2021 between the team and Associate Producer Aurora Sun LaBeija, when we were trying to describe the spirit of what we were capturing in the Ballroom communities growing across the Southeast Asian region. 

DIRECTOR'S NOTE

In 2017, my friend Sun and I were in a contemporary dance project together, covered in coloured chalk dust on a rooftop. He saw me documenting with a camera in my hand and asked if I knew any filmmakers who might be interested in the Vogue and Ballroom communities in Asia. I didn’t need to think. “Me, bitch!”*
 
During the next year Sun educated me about Ballroom culture’s history and growth in Asia, and he took me to attend and document balls around the region. I fell in love with the powerful energy, collective activation and struggle of these communities. Sun introduced me immediately to fellow trailblazers Teddy from Malaysia and Xyza from the Philippines, and they welcomed this project with open arms.

From 2018-2022, Sun and I brainstormed various approaches to the project. We hit dead ends, we disagreed, collaborators came and went, many words were written and discarded, tears and sweat shed, COVID battled and borders closed and re-opened. In an online doc lab, Alem in the Philippines heard my informal pitch and shot me a text message immediately. He took a gamble on us unknowns, and became the cornerstone who brought together our wonderful co-producers and resources and made possible this mad plan to shoot in 5 countries and 8 cities/towns on a shoestring (and all the other places that sadly didn’t make it into the film). Finally, in 2022 we began shooting with the concept and team that has seen us through to the completion of 10s Across the Borders.

While learning about Ballroom and the communities in Southeast Asia, I saw that my new friends’ devotion to their adopted culture goes far beyond imitating an attractive meme. Their practice of Ballroom is unlike the many other popular art forms with roots in social movements, which have been stripped of their essence in the wake of globalisation. Through the house system, Ballroom continues to strive to maintain its relevance, even on its periphery in Southeast Asia. Of course, Ballroom isn't perfect. The communities and houses and personal relationships can be turbulent as each individual struggles with their wounds. Their humanity resonates with a Chinese saying I grew up with: "Every family has a difficult Sutra it must recite." 

This first feature has turned out to be the project I have been preparing for my whole life without knowing it. I've had different lives - as a disillusioned diplomat in Southeast Asian regional cooperation, a contemporary dancer and improviser, a conceptual choreographer, a dance filmmaker, arts journalist and a queer feminist activist, community organiser and queer parent. 

The last 7 years’ journey with this community has been a gift that has changed my life forever. I am humbled and grateful.

*Note: Sun recalls this initial conversation differently, please ask him about his no less magical story!

PRODUCER'S NOTE

I was fortunate to have been selected to participate at Docs by the Sea Accelerator Lab in 2021. At the start of the workshop, we were all asked to introduce ourselves and the projects that we have. Immediately after Sze-Wei introduced their work, I immediately messaged them.  I have long been fascinated by the underground Ballroom scene, especially after watching the series POSE.  That’s why I was pleasantly surprised that there is a growing movement in Southeast Asia, including the Philippines.  I was immediately drawn into Sze's work with the Ballroom communities and I wanted to learn more about the scene in the region, especially in territories where Islam or conservative Christianity is prevalent.  This led to me coming on board when they began their subsequent project 10s Across the Borders.

Given that we’re featuring subjects from within Southeast Asia, I am very happy that I’m getting the opportunity to work with different filmmaking talents from both the Southeast Asian and European regions. This reinforces the universality of our film and the world we are depicting.

Much as the underground ballroom scene provided black and Latinx queers a space and family to be true to themselves, I hope that our documentary can inspire Southeast Asian queers, especially in repressive countries to be able to find their own space and family.