Celebrating pride month

KASHISH Arts Foundation is set to host a two-day Indian language LGBTQ+ film festival, 'KASHISH Chalchitra Utsav 2024,' as part of the ongoing Mumbai Festival 2024 activities by Maharashtra Tourism. The event, taking place on January 27th and 28th at Veda Kunba Theater in Andheri West, coincides with Mumbai Queer Pride month activities.

After a four-year hiatus, this festival features 37 Indian LGBTQ+ films in languages such as Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Punjabi, Urdu, and Sanskrit. These films, recognized for awards or audience acclaim at past editions of KASHISH Pride Film Festival, aim to bring LGBTQ+ narratives to diverse linguistic audiences.

Sridhar Rangayan, festival director, expressed enthusiasm for the collaboration with the government-supported Mumbai Festival and the community-led Mumbai Queer Pride month activities. The goal is to mainstream LGBTQ+ narratives and lives while building bridges between the LGBTQ+ community and society.

Saagar Gupta, director of programming, emphasized the festival's mission to bring Indian language LGBTQ+ cinema to the forefront, promoting diverse narratives in various languages.

The event will include an interactive story-building contest and a panel discussion on emerging trends in Indian LGBTQ+ representation in cinema and web series.

The Mumbai Queer Pride March is scheduled for February 3, 2024, starting from August Kranti Maidan. KASHISH Pride Film Festival, South Asia's largest LGBTQ film festival, will hold its 15th edition on June 5-9, 2024, at Liberty Cinema and other venues in Mumbai.