KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival

KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival
Location Mumbai, India
Language International
Website 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 2010. The film festival screens gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer films from India and around the world.

Background

2009 was a historic year for the LGBT movement in India. On 2 July 2009, the 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 took this movement forward through the medium of films. It made LGBT persons, their desires and aspirations visible through films and brought about an international perspective to LGBT works. The objective of the festival continues 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]

It was the first Indian LGBT film festival to be held in a mainstream theater. It was also the first LGBT film festival to obtain a clearance from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India)

The festival

KASHISH Mumbai International 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 explored the diverse realities, complexities, joys and sorrows that make up the global queer experience. They also celebrated, reclaimed, and explained LGBTQ identities while engaging and entertaining audiences. The film festival brought 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 of queer thought, desires and expressions.[8]

The festival boasts of support from Indian film personalities. Shyam Benegal is the Festival Patron and Celina Jaitly is the Festival Ambassador.

The advisory board of the festival is composed of eminent personalities like Dolly Thakore, Nandini Sardesai, Aruna Raje Patil, Shernaz Patel, Meghna Ghai Puri, Roy Wadia and Jenni Olson (USA).

Some of the chief guests and guests of honour at the festival have been Sir Ian Mckellen, Sonam Kapoor, Arjun Kapoor, Nisa Godrej, Swara Bhaskar, Anupam Kher, Kunal Kapoor, Juhi Chawla, Manisha Koirala, Nandita Das, Sai Paranjpye, Kabir Bedi, Kalpana Lajmi, Zeenat Aman, Moushumi Chatterjee, Onir, Neeraj Ghaywan, Sanjay Suri, Neelam Kothari, Varun Badola, Shweta Kawatra, Sona Mohapatra, Anant Mahadevan, Dalip Tahil, Shaina NC, Aleque Padamsee, Apurva Asrani, Suchitra Pillai-Malik, Purab Kohli, Adhuna Bhabani, Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil, and Laxmi Narayan Tripathi.

Calendar

  • The 1st edition of the festival, KASHISH 2010, was held 25–29 April 2010 at PVR Cinemas and screened and screened 110 films from 25 countries. Its theme was 'See A Different World'.
  • The 2nd edition of the festival, KASHISH 2011, was held 25–29 May 2011 at Cinemax Versova & Alliance Francaise de Bombay, and screened 124 films from 23 countries. Its theme was 'Bigger, Bolder & Queerer'.
  • The 3rd edition of the festival, KASHISH 2012, was held 23–27 May 2012 at Cinemax Versova & Alliance Francaise de Bombay, and screened 120 films from 30 countries. Its theme was 'For Everyone'.
  • The 4th edition of the festival, KASHISH 2013, was held 22–26 May 2013 at Cinemax Versova & Alliance Francaise de Bombay, and screened 132 films from 40 countries. Its theme was 'Towards Change'.
  • The 5th edition of the festival, KASHISH 2014, was held 21–25 May 2014 at Liberty Cinema & Alliance Francaise de Bombay, and screened 154 films from 31 countries. Its theme was 'Dare To Dream'.
  • The 6th edition of the festival, KASHISH 2015, was held 27–31 May 2015 at Liberty Cinema, Alliance Francaise de Bombay & Max Mueller Bhavan, and screened 180 films from 44 countries. Its theme was 'Reaching Out, Touching Hearts'.
  • The 7th edition of the festival, KASHISH 2016, was held 22–26 May 2016 at Liberty Cinema, Alliance Francaise de Bombay & Max Mueller Bhavan, and screened 182 films from 53 countries. Its theme was '7 Shades of Love'.
  • The 8th edition of festival, KASHISH 2017, was held 24–28 May 2017 at Liberty Cinema & Alliance Francaise de Bombay. Its theme was 'Diverse, One'.
  • The 9th edition of festival, KASHISH 2018, was held 23–27 May 2018 at Liberty Carnival Cinemas & INOX Metro. Its theme was 'Together, With Pride'.

Festival jury

KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival has, in its attempt to mainstream queer visibility, engaged an jury to judge the award categories. The five member jury has consisted of actors, directors, critics, theater and media personalities and festival curators from India and abroad.

Wendell Rodricks, celebrity fashion designer, has been the judge every year since 2012 of the KASHISH Poster Design Contest that invites designers from around the world to create the look of the festival, which will be used in posters, billboards and other promotional materials.

Awards

Best Narrative Feature Film

  • 2018: Mater - Pablo D’Alo Abba | Argentina [9]
  • 2017: Gloria and Grace - Flávio R. Tambellini | Brazil[10]
  • 2016: How To Win At Checkers (Every Time) - Josh Kim | Thailand, USA, Indonesia[11]
  • 2015: Boys (Jongens) - Mischa Kamp | The Netherlands[12]
  • 2014: Tru Love - Kate Johnston and Shauna MacDonald | Canada[13]
  • 2013: Morgan - Michael Akers | USA[14]
  • 2012: My Last Round (Mi Ultimo Rounde) - Julio Jorquera Arriagada | Chile[15]
  • 2011: I Am - Onir | India

Best Documentary Feature Film

  • 2018: Boys For Sale - Itako | Japan [9]
  • 2017: No Dress Code Required - Cristina Herrera Bórquez | Mexico[10]
  • 2016: Pansy - Jean-Baptiste Erreca | France
  • 2015: Do I Sound Gay - David Thorpe | USA
  • 2014: Bridegroom - Linda Bloodworth-Thomason | USA
  • 2013: Hide and Seek - Saadat Munir | Pakistan / Holland
  • 2012: Let The Butterflies Fly (Chittegalu Haradali) - Gopal Menon | India
  • 2011: We Were Here - David Weissman | USA
  • 2010: Prodigal Sons - Kimberly Reed | USA[16]

Best Documentary Short Film

  • 2018: Little Potato - Wes Hurley | USA, Russia[9]
  • 2017: Naked Wheels - Rajesh James | India[10]
  • 2016: Transindia - Meera Darji | India, UK
  • 2015: Novena - Anna Rodgers | Ireland
  • 2014: Families Are Forever - Vivian Kleiman | USA
  • 2013: Two Girls Against The Rain - Sopheak Sao | Cambodia
  • 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[16]

Best International Narrative Short Film

  • 2018: Marguerite - Marianne Farley | Canada[9]
  • 2017: Stay - Milka Mircic Martinovic | Germany[10]
  • 2016: San Cristóbal - Omar Zuniga Hidalgo | Chile
  • 2015: 09:55 - 11:05 Ingrid Ekman Bergsgatan 4b - Cristine Berglund and Sophie Vukovic | Sweden
  • 2014: Naked - José Antonio Cortés Amunarriz | Spain
  • 2013: Polaroid Girl - April Maxey | USA
  • 2012: Through The Window (Me’ever La’chalon) - Chen Shumowitz | Israel[17]
  • 2011: Let The World Know About Me - Marianna Giordano | Argentina
  • 2010: Steam - Eldar Rapaport[16]

Best Indian Narrative Short Film

  • 2018: Ajay - Vikrant Dhote | India[9]
  • 2017: Maacher Jhol (Fish Curry) - Abhishek Verma | India[10]
  • 2016: Daarvatha (The Threshold) - Nishant Roy Bombarde | India
  • 2015: Sundar - Rohan Kanawade | India and Mudivai Thaedum Muttrupulli (A Full Stop That Searches For Its End) - Vivek Vishwanathan | India
  • 2014: Mitraa - Ravi Jadhav | India
  • 2013: Urmi - Jehangir Jani | India
  • 2012: The jury decided not to award any film in this category.
  • 2011: Amen - Ranadeep Bhattacharyya and Judhajit Bagchi | India
  • 2010: Lost & Found - Shrenik Jain | India[16]

Riyad Wadia Award For Best Emerging Indian Filmmaker

  • 2018: Preet for Grey[9]
  • 2017: Rajesh James for Naked Wheels and Vishal Srivastava for Selfhood (Wajood)[10]
  • 2016: Vikrant Dhote and Srikant Ananthakrishnan for Any Other Day
  • 2015: Vaibhav Hatkar for Ek Maaya Ashi Hi (A Love Such As This)
  • 2014: Sharon Flynn for I'dentity
  • 2013: Manava Naik for Dopehri and Rohan Kanawade for Lonely Walls (Ektya Bhinti)
  • 2012: Pradipta Ray for The Night Is Young (Raat Baaki)
  • 2011: Shumona Banerjee for The Flower Bud (Kusum)

Best Performance in a Lead Role

  • 2018: Chetan Kanwar in Pashi | India[9]
  • 2017: Petrice Jones in Play The Devil | Trinidad & Tobago[10]
  • 2016: Ingkarat Damrongsakkul in How To Win At Checkers (Every Time) | Thailand, USA, Indonesia
  • 2015: Kristina Hernandez in Stealth | USA
  • 2014: Kate Trotter in Tru Love | Canada
  • 2013: Crystal Annette in Polaroid Girl | USA

QDrishti Film Grant

  • 2017: Siddharth Chauhan for Pashi | India[9]
  • 2017: Debadrita Bose for Clarinets (Shehenaiiya) | India[10]
  • 2016: V. Ramanathan for Normalcy | India

Best Student Short Film

  • 2018: Celebrate Eileen - Judith Westermann | Germany[9]
  • 2017: Still Devout - Melissa Perez | USA[10]

Special Jury Award

  • 2012: Rites of Passage - Jeff Roy | USA
  • 2011: I Am - Sonali Gulati | USA

Special Jury Mention

  • 2018: Birds Of Paradise - Rahul MM | India (in the category Riyad Wadia Award for Best Emerging Indian Filmmaker)[9]
  • 2018: Sunken Plum - Gu Xiang | China (in the category Best Performance in a Lead Role)[9]
  • 2018: Sunken Plum - Roberto F. Canuto & Xiaoxi Xu | China (in the category Best International Narrative Short Film)[9]
  • 2018: Goldfish - Yorgos Angelopoulos | Greece (in the category Best International Narrative Short Film)[9]
  • 2018: Mathias - Clara Stern | Austria (in the category Best Student Short Film)[9]
  • 2017: Beautiful Figure - Hajni Kis | The Netherlands (in the category Best Student Short Film)
  • 2016: Beautiful Something - Brian Sheppard | USA (in the category Best Performance in a Lead Role)
  • 2016: - Antonio Altamirano San Cristóbal | Chile (in the category Best Performance in a Lead Role)
  • 2016: Trade Queen - David Wagner | Germany (in the category Best International Narrative Short Film)
  • 2016: Technical Difficulties of Intimacy - Joel Moffett | USA (in the category Best International Narrative Short Film)
  • 2016: That's My Boy - Akhil Satyan | India (in the category Riyad Wadia Award for Best Emerging Indian Filmmaker)
  • 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

KASHISH Coffee Break Audience Award

  • 2013: This competition was not held.
  • 2012: Logging Out - Nakshatra Bagwe | India
  • 2011: Nothing Happened - Julia Kots | USA

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Mumbai's gay pride comes to fore". DNA. 17 August 2008. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  2. ↑ "Celina Jaitley at re-launch of pro-gay mag Bombay Dost". Bollywood Reloaded. 19 April 2009. Retrieved 20 January 2011.
  3. ↑ UN body slams India on rights of gays, The Times of India, 24 April 2008
  4. ↑ "Fear and loathing in gay India". BBC News. 17 May 2005. Retrieved 17 April 2008.
  5. ↑ Why should homosexuality be a crime?, The Times of India, 18 September 2003
  6. ↑ Added by Nicholas Snow View Events. "Kashish – Mumbai Queer Film Festival, 2010". NotesFromHollywood.com. Archived from the original on 14 July 2011. Retrieved 20 January 2011.
  7. ↑
  8. ↑
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 "'MATER' IS BEST NARRATIVE FILM, 'AJAY' WINS BEST INDIAN SHORT AND 'PASHI' IS QDRISHTI WINNER AT KASHISH 2018". mumbaiqueerfest.com.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "KASHISH 2017 | COMPLETE LIST OF WINNERS". Pandolin.com.
  11. ↑ "'DAARAVTHA' is The Best Indian Short and Thai Film 'How to win at checkers (Every Time)' is best Film at Kashish 2016". Best In Bombay.
  12. ↑ "Kashish winners spread joy and glitter at Liberty". Asian Age.
  13. ↑ "Ravi Jadhav's "Mitraa" winner at Kashish Mumbai Int'l Queer Fest 2014". www.dearcinema.com. Archived from the original on 2015-06-20.
  14. ↑ "KASHISH Mumbai Intl. Queer Film Festival announces awards". www.dearcinema.com. Archived from the original on 2013-10-14.
  15. ↑ "imdb news". www.dearcinema.com.
  16. 1 2 3 4 "Kashish Awards and Jury 2010". Kashish-Mumbai International Queer Film Festival. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
  17. ↑ "India Blooms". www.indiablooms.com. Archived from the original on 2012-06-01.
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