Acclaimed filmmaker Onir’s film We Are Faheem & Karun continues its international festival run with a strong showing at Canada’s ReelOut Queer Film Festival which is a significant platform for global LGBTQ+ cinema. The love story set in Kashmir is growing conversation around queer narratives emerging from India that refuse stereotype.
Directed by National Award-winning filmmaker Onir, the film stars Mir Tawseef as Faheem and Akash Menon as Karun. The story is intimate, has a lot of restraint and is also politically charged without turning didactic.
The film is set in the heavily militarised Gurez Valley in Kashmir and follows a young local student, Faheem, and a security guard from Kerala, Karun. Their companionship slowly evolves into fragile romance which is shaped by language barriers, cultural gap and constant surveillance.
We Are Faheem & Karun is the first Kashmiri-language queer feature shot entirely in the region. Onir has long argued for queer stories that show lived realities rather than trauma-for-impact, and this film follows that philosophy.
ReelOut’s selection shows more than any other festival screening. The Kingston-based film festival is known for curating films that resonate within community spaces and not just the industry circuits. For an independent Indian queer film set in one of the country’s most sensitive regions, the recognition really underscores its global relevance and the emotional universality.
We Are Faheem & Karun has already travelled through major international queer and South Asian festival platforms. The Onir directorial is building steady momentum rather than chasing headline hype. Its strength lies in its undeclared confidence. There are no grand speeches, no performative suffering. Faheem and Karun are just two men finding connection in a place built to keep people apart.
Indian queer cinema is entering a different phase with a lot less symbolism and more specificity. We Are Faheem & Karun doesn’t ask for attention. It earns it one audience and one conversation at a time.
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