This Asian LGBTQ+ Streaming Platform Goes Global
LGBTQ

This Asian LGBTQ+ Streaming Platform Goes Global

On Friday, Asian LGBTQ+ streaming platform GagaOOLala officially launched all over the world — except for China and North Korea — just in time for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, and right before Pride.

The launch also comes just days before the anniversary of Taiwan's legalization of same sex marriage. The country was the first Asian nation to do so.

The company behind the online film and television service, Portico Media, is one of the co-founders of the Taiwan International Queer Film Festival. "Of course there are LGBT-focused services in Europe and the U.S., but they're almost exclusively Western. There are very few Asian titles, and if there are, they're more Asian American, or from a U.S.-centric or Western-centric point of view," CEO Jay Lin told Variety. "This is the first time where an OTT service is available globally with such a high concentration of Asian content."

But the streamer's options aren't limited to Asian titles, either. It also includes films like French thriller 7 Minutes and Berlin International Film Festival Teddy Award Winner, Brazilian film Brief Story from the Green Planet.

Lin told Variety, "I hope we'll be able to create interesting collaborations, co-production and stories that are not singularly of one country or one region. That's the long term goal, though there's no real map for how to get there."

A GagaOOLala subscription costs $6.99 a month, but has about 30 titles for viewers to watch for free as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. You can subscribe here.

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