4th edition of Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival will showcase 132 films from 40 countries.
This year, one of the city’s most popular queer film festivals, the Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival, will be screening films from Pakistan, Iran, UAE, Morocco, Serbia and Slovakia.
The director of the festival, Sridhar Rangayan, told dna, “The fact that these filmmakers, who make queer films often at a risk to their lives, repose their trust in Kashish means a lot.”
This year, 132 films from 40 countries will be screened at the festival.
Rangayan also spoke about how the four-day festival has become a window into the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) community for the world outside. “As many as 32% of our audiences last year were straight. The fact that these films have queer themes is merely incidental for audiences hungering for good cinema,” Rangayan said and added, “It is a challenge to ensure that we balance awareness and entertainment to provide a diverse range of films.”
Kashish is the first and only LGBT film festival in India to be held in a mainstream theatre and the first queer festival to receive clearance from the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting.
While the theme of the festival this year is ‘Towards Change’, the filmmaker-in-focus is Jim Hubbard from the US, who will be attending the festival. The country-in-focus this year is China.
Dolly Thakore, who is on the festival advisory panel, said, “Kashish is no more just a film festival, but an annual cultural experience. The sheer courage and gumption that organisers have shown in creating a platform like this needs to be lauded.”
She hoped the government would pick up the cue and use media like Doordarshan to take these films to the masses. “Why should this platform be restricted to an urbane audience? We need to take this movement forward,” she added. The festival will open with the Serbian film The Parade.
The Invisible Men (Netherlands), United in Anger (US), Angels (Slovakia), Speechless (China) and I’m Gay and Muslim (Morocco) are some of the other features to look out for at the festival which will be held at Cinemax Versova in Andheri (W) between May 22 and 26, and at Alliance Française de Bombay between May 23 and 25.
Fest facts
Kashish is the first and only LGBT film festival in India to be held in a mainstream theatre and the first queer festival to receive clearance from the Information & Broadcasting ministry.
Will be held at Cinemax Versova in Andheri (W) between May 22 and 26, and at Alliance Française de Bombay between May 23 and 25.
The festival will open with the Serbian film The Parade.
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