KASHISH Pride Film Festival
| Location | Mumbai, India |
|---|---|
| Language | International |
| Website | http://www.mumbaiqueerfest.com/ |
The KASHISH – Mumbai International Queer Film Festival (also known as Mumbai International Queer Film Festival and Mumbai International Queer Film Festival) is an annual LGBT event that has been held in Mumbai, India since the year 2010. The film festival screens gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer films from India and around the world.
Background
The year 2009 was a historic one for the LGBT movement in India. On 2 July 2009, a Delhi High Court court ruling decriminalised homosexual intercourse between consenting adults and judged Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code to be conflicting with the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution of India. This brought a respite to the Indian LGBT community that has been repressed and marginalized. This also led to open celebrations by LGBT persons including Pride Parades in many of the metros.[1] This was followed by the relaunch of India's first gay magazine – Bombay Dost.[2] The Indian Election Commission decided to recognize transgender as a separate category. All these activities brought media focus and visibility to the LGBT community in India.[3][4][5]
KASHISH Mumbai Queer Film Festival takes this movement forward through the medium of films. It makes LGBT persons, their desires and aspirations visible through films and brings about an international perspective to LGBT works. The objective is to mainstream the LGBT community and project them as 'normal' human beings who have the capacity to love and live with dignity. The festival offers cinema as a means to understand what being queer means today, and how it impacts both the queer community and the society at large.[6]
The Festival
Kashish Mumbai Queer Film Festival, 2010 [7] was held between 22 and 25 April 2010, spread across two venues in Mumbai – one in the city and one in the suburbs. Features, short films, documentaries and experimental films were screened that highlighted gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender characters and stories. The films explore the diverse realities, complexities, joys and sorrows that make up the Indian queer experience. They also celebrate, reclaim, and explain LGBTQ identities while engaging and entertaining audiences. The film festival brings together the audience, the films and their makers to create social change.
In its debut year Founder Festival Director Sridhar Rangayan said he hoped that the film festival would encourage greater visibility of queer cinema and bring it into the mainstream discourse. He has said that the Festival showcases the films to both queer and mainstream audiences, in order to make them aware about queer thought, desires and expressions.[8]
The festival's second year year was held from May 25 to 29 2011 at Cinemax Versova and Alliance Francaise de Bombay. The festival screened 123 films from 24 countries.
The third year was held from May 23rd to 27th 2012 at Cinemax Versova and Alliance Francaise de Bombay. The festival screened 120 films from 30 countries.
Mr.Shyam Benegal is the Festival Patron.
Target audience
The annual Festival's main target audience includes members of the LGBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender) communities, film industry people, sponsors, media, film buffs and the general public. Many of them would not have had an opportunity to see these films outside the festival, since these films rarely receive commercial release in India.
Organizers
Mumbai Queer Film Festival is one more initiative in the ongoing Media Advocacy and Community Outreach programs by Solaris Pictures, Bombay Dost and The Humsafar Trust which have earlier been involved in production and distribution of films and publications on queer and HIV/AIDS issues.
Solaris Pictures has consistently produced films on queer themes. Its award-winning films like Gulabi Aaina, Yours Emotionally and 68 Pages, all dealing with gay and transgender stories, have pushed the boundaries in queer portrayals in Indian films.
Bombay Dost, India’s first registered LGBT magazine, has been a standard bearer for the growing confidence and artistic alacrity displayed by India’s queer community.
The Humsafar Trust has been one of the largest male sexual health agency working with gay, bisexual and transgender communities in India focusing on rights and health.
The film festival was supported by Movies That Matter, (an initiative of Amnesty International) in the Netherlands and UN Agencies like UNDP & UNAIDS in the first two years. The third year was supported primarily by corporate partners and individual donations.
Awards
Best Narrative Feature Film
- 2012: My Last Round (Mi Ultimo Rounde) - Julio Jorquera Arriagada | Chile [9]
- 2011: I Am - Onir | India
Best Documentary Feature Film
- 2012: Let The Butterflies Fly (Chittegalu Haradali) - Gopal Menon | India
- 2011: We Were Here - David Weissman | USA
- 2010: Prodigal Sons - Kimberly Reed | USA [10]
Best Documentary Short Film
- 2012: Are We So Different(Aamra Ki Etoi Bhinno) - Lok Prakash | Bangladesh
- 2011: Bullied - Bill Brummel and Geoffrey Sharp | UK
- 2010: XXWHY - Dr.Bharathy Manjula | India [10]
Best International Narrative Short Film
- 2012: Through The Window (Me’ever La’chalon) - Chen Shumowitz [11]
- 2011: Let The World Know About Me - Marianna Giordano | Argentina
- 2010: Steam - Eldar Rapaport[10]
Best Indian Narrative Short Film
- 2011: Amen - Ranadeep Bhattacharya and Judhajit Bagchi | India
- 2010: Lost & Found - Shrenik Jain | India [10]
Kashish Coffee Break Audience Award
- 2012: Logging Out - Nakshatra Bagwe | India
- 2011: Nothing Happened - Julia Kots | USA
Riyad Wadia Award For Best Emerging Indian Filmmaker
- 2012: The Night Is Young (Raat Baaki) - Pradipta Ray | India
- 2011: The Flower Bud (Kusum) - Shumona Banerjee | India
Special Jury Award
- 2012: Rites of Passage - Jeff Roy | USA
- 2011: I Am - Sonali Gulati | USA
Special Jury Mention
- 2012: We The Outsiders... (Aamhi Ka Tisre...) - Ramesh Laxman More
- 2010: Holding Hands - Tonnette Stanford and Katherine Wilkinson | Australia
- 2010: Flying Inside My Body - Sushmit Ghosh, Rintu Thomas, Sumit Sharma and Ajeeta Chowhan | India
- 2010: Speak Up! It is Not My Fault - Deepika Lal | India
- 2010: Dirty Magazines - Jay Levy | USA
- 2010: I Am Gay (Jag Ar Bog) - Nicolos Kolovos | Sweden
References
- ^ "Mumbai's gay pride comes to fore".
- ^ Post To: (19 April 2009). "Celina Jaitley at re-launch of pro-gay mag Bombay Dost". Bollywood Reloaded. Retrieved 20 January 2011.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) - ^ UN body slams India on rights of gays, The Times of India, 24 April 2008
- ^ "Fear and loathing in gay India". BBC News. 17 May 2005. Retrieved 17 April 2008.
- ^ Why should homosexuality be a crime?, The Times of India, 18 September 2003
- ^ Added by Nicholas Snow View Events. "Kashish – Mumbai Queer Film Festival, 2010". NotesFromHollywood.com. Retrieved 20 January 2011.
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ [2][dead link]
- ^ "imdb news". www.dearcinema.com.
- ^ a b c d "Kashish Awards and Jury 2010". Kashish-Mumbai International Queer Film Festival. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
- ^ "India Blooms". www.indiablooms.com.
External links
