Award winning LGBTQ films from around the world to screen celebrating Mumbai Pride 2017

KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival, South Asia’s biggest LGBTQ film festival teams up with Godrej’s India Culture Lab, the most happening culture space in Mumbai, to bring a day-long film screening event on January 21, 2017 focusing on gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer lives from around the world. The event, being held as part of Mumbai Pride month, will screen award winning and popular short films from KASHISH 2016 which was held last May.

“The films that are being screened cover a large spectrum of the LGBTQ community, with many brilliant films from India. They push the boundaries of gender and sexuality by questioning set perceptions that are defined by law, government and society. It is time to break barriers and boundaries to proclaim loudly that we exist and we want to live with Pride”, said Sridhar Rangayan, festival director of KASHISH MIQFF. Rangayan also said that this is a wonderful opportunity for audiences to see these films at one of the best cultural spaces in the central suburbs.

Parmesh Shahani, head, Godrej India Culture Lab, says, “Through our LGBT programming at the Lab and our inclusive policies at Godrej, we have become a safe space for expression for the queer community in India. We are very proud to host the Best of KASHISH program at our Godrej India Culture Lab. We hope that this will inspire many other companies and organizations to come forward to support the quest for equal rights in India.”

The ‘Best of KASHISH’ film screening event will be divided into three programs – ‘Trans Lives Matter’, ‘Queering The Gender’ and ‘Pushing The Boundaries’ – starting at 11am and ending at 5pm. Some of the films to be screened are the National Award winning film ‘Daarvatha’ by Nishant Roy Bombarde (India), ‘San Cristobal’ by Omar Zúñiga Hidalgo (Chile) which has won the Teddy Award at Berlin Film Festival; as well as films that won awards at KASHISH 2016 –  ‘That’s My Boy’ by Akhil Satyan, ‘Any Other Day’ by Vikrant Dhote and ‘Transindia’ by Meera Darji. Other films that question stereotypes are ‘Trade Queen’ by David Wagner, ‘Bed Buddies’ by Reid Waterer and ‘Walking The Walk’ by Moses Tulasi.

After the film screening, from 5pm to 7pm, there will be a walkthrough with artist Sandeep Dhopade of his exhibition ‘Tritiya Prakriti’, followed by launch of Gaysi Zine magazine and panel discussion ‘The Realm of Queer Desires’ organized by Gaysi.

The event is FREE and open to all. Attendees have to RSVP indiaculturelab@godrejinds.com

“We hope that the event transcends all barriers. We want not just the LGBTQ community, but audiences across all spectrum of society to come and watch these films and participate in the dialogue. That’s what pride means truly”, said Rangayan

The 8th edition of KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film festival will be held May 24-28, 2017 and theme this year is ‘Diverse, One’, echoing the sentiment that we are strongest when we come together, when we embrace one another’s uniqueness and celebrate our differences. We are Diverse, We are One.

Date: January 21, 2017

Timing: 11am to 7pm

Venue: India Culture Lab, Godrej One, Pirojshanagar, Vikhroli (East) (entry from Eastern Express Highway)

Entry: Free Event. RSVP indiaculturelab@godrejinds.com

Event link: https://www.facebook.com/events/579318888926849/