South Asia’s biggest LGBTQ+ film festival is screening 184 films from 53 countries online

After a very successful physical edition of the 13th edition of KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival at Liberty Cinema from June 1^st to the 5th, the KASHISH Online Film Festival is live at https://online.mumbaiqueerfest.com/ from June 2^nd to the 12^th, screening the largest collection of LGBTQ+ films by any film festival  in Asia.

“We are thrilled by the response to both the physical and online festival”, said Sridhar Rangayan, festival director. “By including the online component we are able to reach audiences across India and across the world to participate in our festival. We are thankful to all the filmmakers for agreeing to be part of our hybrid edition and screening their amazing films. Without them, this festival can’t exist.”

The online festival is screening features, documentaries and short films pertaining to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer and non-binary identities. The films touch upon issues of coming out, family acceptance, finding love, relationships, negotiating intersections between sexuality and faith, race, caste, etc.

“While the highest number of films is from India, there are films from the USA, UK, Australia, several countries in Europe and Asia Pacific. We also have films from Lebanon, Iran and Palestine, where being a LGBTQ+ person is very challenging”, said Saagar Gupta, director of programming.

Some of the award winning films at KASHISH 2022 are screening online - Documentary Shorts Competition II (June 7th),  LA QUEENCIAÑERA (June 8th), Indian Narrative Shorts Competition (June 11th) comprising of Muhafiz by Pradipta Ray and Dal Bhat by Nemil Shah.

Complete online screening schedule and how to access the films can be found at https://mumbaiqueerfest.com/kashish-2022-online-festival/. Each program is available for 48 hours on the platform.

“We have priced the programs at an extremely low cost so that more people across India and the world can enjoy these films from the comforts of their own home”, added Rangayan.

About KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival

KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival is South Asia's biggest queer film festival, and the first LGBTQ+ film festival in India to be held in a mainstream theatre. It is the first Indian LGBTQ+ festival to be held with approval by the Information & Broadcasting Ministry, Government of India. Founded in 2010, KASHISH has grown to become an important medium for exhibition, production and distribution of LGBTQ+ films and the most needed platform to nurture the Indian LGBTQ+ movement. KASHISH has been voted as one of the Top 5 LGBT Film Festivals in the World, and also one of the Top 5 Film Festivals in India.

Besides the annual film festival its other initiatives are KASHISH Forward - India’s first traveling campus LGBTQ+ film festival, KASHISH Global – that facilitates screening of Indian LGBTQ+ films across the world, Best of KASHISH film screenings and KASHISH Chalchitra Utsav – a festival of LGBTQ+ films in regional languages. 

More information at http://mumbaiqueerfest.com