KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival is back with its 12th edition. Keeping in mind the pandemic, the festival will be held virtually from August 19 to September 5.
Spread over three weeks, the LGBTQIA+ film festival will screen 221 films from 53 countries, out of which 55 films will compete in the nine categories, namely Best Narrative Feature, Best Screenplay, Best Performance in a Lead Role, Best Documentary Feature and Short, Best Indian and International Narrative Short and Riyad Wadia Award for Best Emerging Indian Filmmaker.
“We want to be resilient and celebrate the diversity of human experiences through cinema. These films are diverse and tell very unique stories, representing the entire LGBTQIA+ spectrum,” says Festival Director Sridhar Rangayan, adding, “KASHISH celebrates its 12th year with a large bounty of cash awards that recognizes the best in filmmaking. These awards also offer encouragement to filmmakers who have made these films under challenging circumstances, sometimes in countries where being LGBTQ+ is still dangerous.”
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Onir, the filmmaker behind award-winning films like My Brother... Nikhil and I Am, has come on board to sponsor the Award for Best Indian Narrative Short for the next three years under his production house, Anticlock Films.
“We believe that KASHISH has played a very pivotal role in providing a safe space for more than a decade to the LGBTQIA community to celebrate Queer cinema and a place where the community to meet and interact. KASHISH has also been actively promoting queer content and talent through various competitions and we are happy to be a small part of it,” said Onir.
Subhash Ghai’s Whistling Woods International will also continue its association with the festival. “Like previous years, WWI is privileged to sponsor the Best Student Film Award, inspiring and encouraging the future filmmakers to bring to fore phenomenal stories of one love. I would like to encourage all the patrons of KASHISH to stay home, stay safe, and prepare yourself for a fantastic expression of the power of cinema”, said Meghna Ghai Puri, President of Whistling Woods International.
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The festival is also collaborating with Lotus Visual Productions to encourage creating new LGBTQIA+ content by Indian LGBTQIA+ filmmakers by having an open call for the KASHISH QDrishti Film Grant that offers Rs.2,00,000 to an Indian LGBTQIA+ filmmaker to make their next narrative short film.
Registrations are now open for people to attend KASHISH 2021.