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KASHISH Pride Film Festival
LocationMumbai, India
Founded2010
Founded bySridhar Rangayan, Saagar Gupta
LanguageInternational
Websitemumbaiqueerfest.com

The KASHISH Pride Film Festival (earlier known as KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival,[1][2] also known as Mumbai International Queer Film Festival and Mumbai Queer Film Festival) is an annual LGBTQ 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. It is voted as one of the top five LGBT film festivals in the world.[3]


Background

2009 was a historic year for the LGBTQ 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.[4]

This was followed by the relaunch of India's first gay magazine, Bombay Dost.[5] The Indian Election Commission decided to recognize transgender as a separate category. All these activities brought media focus and visibility to the LGBTQ community in India.[6][7][8]

KASHISH Pride Film Festival took this movement forward through the medium of films. It made LGBTQ persons, their desires and aspirations visible through films and brought about an international perspective to LGBTQ works. The objective of the festival continues to mainstream the LGBTQ 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.[9]

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

The festival

KASHISH Pride Film Festival, 2010[10] was held between 22 and 25 April 2010, spread across two venues in Mumbai – one in the city and one in the suburbs. The first edition was organized by Solaris Pictures and The Humsafar Trust in association with Bombay Dost. 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.[11]

The festival boasts of support from Indian film personalities. Shyam Benegal is the Festival Patron. Celina Jaitly was the Festival Ambassador till 2020.

The advisory board of the festival is composed of eminent personalities like Aruna Raje Patil, Dolly Thakore, Meghna Ghai Puri, Onir, Renuka Shahane and Roy Wadia. In the past years Nandini Sardesai, Shernaz Patel and Jenni Olson (USA) also served on the advisory board.

Some of the chief guests and guests of honour at the festival have been Sir Ian McKellen, Sonam Kapoor, Arjun Kapoor, Raveena Tandon, Konkana Sen Sharma, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Rajkumar Rao, Swara Bhaskar, Divya Dutta, Pratik Gandhi, Ranveer Brar, Shalmali, Pooja Bhatt, Nisa Godrej, Anupam Kher, Kunal Kapoor, Juhi Chawla, Manisha Koirala, Nandita Das, Sai Paranjpye, Kabir Bedi, Kalpana Lajmi, Zeenat Aman, Moushumi Chatterjee, Onir, Tanuja Chandra, Neeraj Ghaywan, Sanjay Suri, Neelam Kothari, Rajeshwari Sachdeva, Varun Badola, Shweta Kawatra, Varun Grover, Shalmali_Kholgade, Rekha Bhardwaj, Simone Singh, Sona Mohapatra, Anant Mahadevan, Dalip Tahil, Shaina NC, Aleque Padamsee, Apurva Asrani, Suchitra Pillai-Malik, Purab Kohli, Adhuna Bhabani, Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil, Laxmi Narayan Tripathi and Sushant Divgikar.

KASHISH since 2010 to 2016 has been organized by Solaris Pictures and co-organized by The Humsafar Trust. Since 2017, KASHISH is organized by KASHISH Arts Foundation, in association with Solaris Pictures.

Calendar

Festival jury

KASHISH Pride Film Festival has, in its attempt to mainstream queer visibility, engages a jury panel to judge the award categories. The jury has consisted of actors, directors, critics, theater and media personalities and festival curators from India and abroad.[12][13]

Wendell Rodricks, celebrity fashion designer, has been the judge every year from 2012 to 2020 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. Since 2020, after passing away of Wendell Rodricks, his husband Jerome Marrel was the judge.

Awards

Best Narrative Feature Film

Best Documentary Feature Film

Best Documentary Short Film

Best International Narrative Short Film

Best Indian Narrative Short Film

Riyad Wadia Award For Best Emerging Indian Filmmaker

Instituted in memory of late filmmaker Riyad Vinci Wadia, who made India’s first gay film BOMgAY, the Riyad Wadia Award for Best Emerging Indian Filmmaker is an attempt by KASHISH to recognize and nurture emerging Indian voices.

Ismat Chughtai Award For Best Indian Woman Filmmaker

Instituted in memory of eminent Indian Urdu novelist, short story writer, liberal humanist and filmmaker Ismat Chughtai, the Ismat Chughtai Award For Best Indian Woman Filmmaker is an attempt by KASHISH to acknowledge and encourage Indian women filmmakers to tell path-breaking narratives infused with progressive, positive viewpoints.[28]

Best Performance in a Lead Role

Best Screenplay

Best Student Short Film

KASHISH QDrishti Film Grant

Special Jury Mention

Special Jury Award

KASHISH Coffee Break Audience Award

Best Poster Design

KASHISH Rainbow Warrior Award

KASHISH Rainbow Champion Award

See also

References

  1. ^ "Kashish Pride Film Festival announces its theme 'Unfurl Your Pride' for 2024". timesofindia. 23 December 2023.
  2. ^ "Mumbai Diary: Tuesday Dossier". MIDDay. 19 December 2023.
  3. ^ a b "In Pictures | Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival 2019". @businessline. 13 June 2019. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
  4. ^ "Mumbai's gay pride comes to fore". DNA. 17 August 2008. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  5. ^ "Celina Jaitley at re-launch of pro-gay mag Bombay Dost". Bollywood Reloaded. 19 April 2009. Archived from the original on 8 July 2011. Retrieved 20 January 2011.
  6. ^ UN body slams India on rights of gays, The Times of India, 24 April 2008
  7. ^ "Fear and loathing in gay India". BBC News. 17 May 2005. Retrieved 17 April 2008.
  8. ^ Why should homosexuality be a crime?, The Times of India, 18 September 2003
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ [1][dead link]
  11. ^ [2][dead link]
  12. ^ "Exclusive! Gauri Shinde and Ritesh Batra join Mumbai's Kashish 2021 jury". timesofindia. 29 July 2021.
  13. ^ "KASHISH 2019 Highlights". KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival. 7 June 2019. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r "FILMS WITH TRANSGENDER FOCUS WIN BIG AT KASHISH 2023". TheDailyEye. 30 June 2023.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t "'Naanu Ladies,' 'LA QueenCianera' Win at India's Kashish LGBTQ+ Film Festival". Variety//. 15 June 2022.
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p "KASHISH 2021: Latin American films win big at a grand online award ceremony". globalindianstories/. 6 September 2021.
  17. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Brazilian film 'Music For The Bleeding Hearts' wins big at virtual queer film festival". timesofindia/.
  18. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t "'JOSE' IS BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE FILM AT KAHISH MIQFF 2019, 'THE BOOTH' IS BEST INDIAN NARRATIVE SHORT FILM". mumbaiqueerfest.com.
  19. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "'MATER' IS BEST NARRATIVE FILM, 'AJAY' WINS BEST INDIAN SHORT AND 'PASHI' IS QDRISHTI WINNER AT KASHISH 2018". mumbaiqueerfest.com.
  20. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "KASHISH 2017 | COMPLETE LIST OF WINNERS". Pandolin.com. Archived from the original on 28 August 2017. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
  21. ^ a b "'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. Archived from the original on 7 August 2016. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
  22. ^ a b "Kashish winners spread joy and glitter at Liberty". Asian Age.
  23. ^ a b "Ravi Jadhav's "Mitraa" winner at Kashish Mumbai Int'l Queer Fest 2014". www.dearcinema.com. Archived from the original on 20 June 2015.
  24. ^ a b "KASHISH Mumbai Intl. Queer Film Festival announces awards". www.dearcinema.com. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013.
  25. ^ a b "imdb news". www.dearcinema.com.
  26. ^ a b c d "Kashish Awards and Jury 2010". Kashish-Mumbai International Queer Film Festival. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
  27. ^ "India Blooms". www.indiablooms.com. Archived from the original on 1 June 2012.
  28. ^ "The Ismat Chughtai Award for Best Indian Woman Filmmaker". The Hans India. 28 May 2023.


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