The 10th edition of Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival on Wednesday opened to a packed audience at Liberty Cinema at Marine Lines.
The first edition of the festival since the August 2018 verdict of the Supreme Court that decriminalised Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (making consensual gay sex legal in India), will screen a total of 160 films from 43 countries at Liberty Cinema and Metro Inox till June 16.
“Kashish is no longer a film festival just for the LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual) community. It has become a festival for everyone who loves movies and stands against discrimination of all kinds,” said Sridhar Rangayan, festival director of Kashish.
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The opening ceremony of the festival was attended by leading LGBTQIA+ activists from the city and saw the presence of Bollywood stars such as Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Kubra Sait, who co-hosted the event with the former Miss Gay World India, Sushant Divgikar, among others.
Mr. Siddiqui said, “It is wonderful that such a festival is celebrating its 10th year. I am excited to see the movies in store. I want to watch and the understand the complexities of such characters.”
Sweden being the country in focus at the festival this year, Ulreka Sundberg, Consul General of Sweden in Mumbai, said India has a lot of catching up to do with Sweden with respect to the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community.
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“I want to credit India for getting the idea of equality for all. It was an Indian who added the phrase equality for all human beings rather than all men in the Univeral Declaration of Human Rights. We, in Sweden, are celebrating the 75th anniversary of decriminalising homosexuality this year. I hope India also legalises same sex marriage,” she said.
Swedish artist Petter Wallenberg premiered his newest album ‘Rainbow Riots India', that has been in the works for two years and is based on the LGBTQIA+ community in the country.
While Dancing Queens, India’s first transgender dance group and Mr. Divgikar, who goes by the stage name Rani Ko-He-Noor, enthralled the audience with their performances, dancer Ayaan Banerjee and singer Rekha Bharadwaj too performed on the occasion.
Revry, a streaming service with a community-centric content, announced during the ceremony that they will be entering the Indian market soon.