International Queer Film Festival returns to Mumbai in May 2020

One of South Asia's biggest LGBTQIA+ film festival all set to be held from May 20-24, 2020. This will be the 11th edition of KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival and it will be held in Mumbai in May 2020. Kashish has been voted to be one of the Top 5 LGBT Film Festival in the World.
The theme for the festival is ‘Moving Forward, Together!’.The submission of films for the festival is now open say the organisers and the festival hopes to receive entries from across the world.
Festival director, Sridhar Rangayan, said, “The festival is now looking beyond after celebrating its 10th-anniversary last year. There is so much work to be done yet, in terms of spreading awareness about acceptance by families and society. The festival hopes to focus on the marginalized sections within the LGBTQIA+ community, like transgender persons, intersex, asexual and genderqueer persons. The misconceptions about diverse gender and sexual identities should be dispelled, and we hope to do it through cinema.”
There is a special submission fee exemption for Indian LGBTQIA+ Short Films as well as in the Student Short Films category. Filmmakers from countries in which international sanctions prevent them from paying a fee are entitled to a fee waiver.
Saagar Gupta and Sridhar Rangayan
It’s already over a year since reading down of Sec 377, and the LGBTQIA+ community in India is still celebrating. Sridhar says, “But apart from the legal change, have things changed at societal level, is there more acceptance? What about the marginalized sections within the LGBTQIA+ spectrum? The festival theme will focus on the steps needed to ‘Moving Forward, Together!’ to ensure equality and dignity for everyone.”
Saagar Gupta, director of programming said, ““Submissions of films to the festival is not restricted to the festival theme alone. We accept all LGBTQIA+ films in all formats – features, shorts, documentaries, etc. We want to bring the best of Indian and global LGBTQIA+ cinema to our audience in Mumbai.”