The third edition of the festival will showcase 120 films from 30 countries. It will also have Indian films in regional languages such as Kannada, Tamil, Punjabi and Hindi.
“When we began, 90% of our funding would come from UN agencies. Now that’s reduced to 10% and the rest of it comes from corporate sponsorships,” said Pallav Patankar, co-director of the Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival (KMIQFF), 2012, at a gathering to announce the festival.
Later, festival co-director Sridhar Rangayan said, “There are no plans to start charging a delegate fee like other festivals. We feel that will take away from reaching out to all kinds of classes.”
According to Rangayan, KMIQFF is very clear about not associating with brands that sell alcohol or tobacco. “After all, there should be something about festival which suggests sensitivity towards LGBT issues. While money is important, we also see the participation of corporates as part of mainstreaming the LGBT narrative.”
The announcement was formally made by critically acclaimed filmmaker Shyam Benegal who expressed pride at his association with KMIQFF for the third year in a row. “Efforts like these work better than individual activism in encouraging acceptance of a community which often faces a form of discrimination that is worse than untouchability because they are treated like criminals.”
Veteran actor and festival jury member Sarita Joshi said, “The festival should try to reach out to the masses in slums and rural areas where the community faces a lot of harassment.”
Another jury member and actor Mona Ambegaonkar added, “Platforms like these are important since they raise a voice against exclusion. Here it is gender, elsewhere it can be caste or community. We have to take a stand against all forms of such inhuman exclusion.”
Also present on the occasion where the festival trailer was unveiled, were actors Renuka Shahane and Parveen Dabas who also spoke about the hate and opprobrium heaped on the community. “All hate comes from fear and suspicion about people not like ‘us.’ Having not only the LGBT community but others come and watch these films will show them that their emotions are not so different from us,” said Shahane.
The third edition of the festival will showcase 120 films from 30 countries. It will also have Indian films in regional languages such as Kannada, Tamil, Punjabi and Hindi.
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