Queer As Punk

Shut up? Not a chance.
The name of Malaysian punk band Shh…Diam! translates as “shut up”. It’s safe to say that the band didn’t get the message. Describing themselves as “75% queer”, the band plays, screams, swears and laughs in a country where queer lives are restricted by law, religion and the attitudes of the society around. For Faris, Yon and Yoyo, punk is more than music – it is a way of claiming space in places where none is freely given.

Filmed over six years, Yihwen Chen’s Queer as Punk follows the band from gigs and protests to weddings and living rooms. The chosen punk family gives a space to love, change, laugh and make noise even when the world around them tells them to stay quiet.

In Queer as Punk, Shh…Diam! answer attempts to silence and suppress them with distorted guitars, black humour and joy. Every gig is both a party and an act of defiance – because if your very existence is seen as rebellion, what could be more punk than being exactly who you are and living exactly as you choose?