CENTERPIECE FILMS AT KASHISH 2018
Four LGBTQ films from across the world, including an Indian film starring actor Kunal Kapoor, will be showcased as Centerpiece Films at the 9th edition of KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival. The festival – South Asia’s biggest LGBTQ film festival – will he held between May 23-27, 2018 at two iconic venues in Mumbai – Liberty Carnival Cinemas and Metro Inox. 140 films from 45 countries will be screened at the festival, including 33 Indian LGBTQ films.
Online registrations are open at https://in.bookmyshow.com/events/kashish-2018/ET00073838
Centerpiece Films
TOM OF FINLAND
Centerpiece Feature Film /105 min / 2017 / Finland / German / Narrative Feature
Director: Dome Karukoski
Touko Laaksonen, a decorated officer, returns home after a harrowing and heroic experience serving his country in World War II, but life in Finland during peacetime proves equally distressing. He finds peace-time Helsinki rampant with persecution of gay men around him, and men even being pressured to marry women and have children. Touko finds refuge in his liberating art, specializing in drawings of muscular men, free of inhibitions. His work – made famous by his signature ‘Tom of Finland’ – became the emblem of a generation of men and fanned the flames of a gay revolution.
Thursday May 24 / 9.20pm / Liberty Carnival Cinemas
ABU
Centerpiece Documentary Feature / 80 min / 2017 / Canada, Pakistan / Documentary Feature
Director: Arshad Khan
ABU is a journey to the centre of a fragmented family while they grapple with religion, colonialism, sexuality and migration. A deeply personal story of self-discovery and familial reconciliation, the film explores a tapestry of narratives composed of family footage, observation and classic Bollywood films, taking its viewers through the tense relationships between family and fate, conservatism and liberalism and modernity and familiarity.
Saturday May 26 / 2.30pm / Liberty Carnival Cinemas
DREAM BOAT
Centerpiece Documentary Feature / 92 min / 2017 / German / German / Documentary Feature
Director: Tristan Ferland Milewski
Once a year, the Dream Boat sets sail – a cruise only for queer men. Far from their families and political restrictions, we follow five men from five countries on a quest for their dreams. The cruise promises seven days of sunshine, love and freedom – but on board are also their personal stories, their doubts and uncertainties.
Saturday May 26 / 4.30pm / Metro INOX
NOBLEMEN
Centerpiece Narrative Feature / 108 min / 2018 / India / English / Narrative Feature
Director: Vandana Kataria
It is winter in a prestigious all boys’ boarding school, where children continue to practice age-old rituals and codes bound by years of hierarchy. Shay is picked on constantly, the main perpetrators being Arjun, the tall athletic sports captain, and his best friend Baadal. Shay and Pia, the spunky daughter of the new Junior School Principal are cast as Bassanio and Portia in the Founder’s Day production of Merchant of Venice. Murali, the charismatic drama teacher unknowingly adds salt to Baadal’s wounds by casting him as Shay’s understudy. Indignant, Baadal vows to get Shay’s part at any cost and turns to his buddy Arjun for help. Events take a sinister turn when Shay walks in on Arjun, Baadal, and their cronies on a debauched night.
Saturday May 26 / 7.35pm / Liberty Carnival Cinemas
About KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival
Voted as one of the Top 5 LGBT Film Festival in the World, KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival is South Asia’s biggest queer film festival and the only LGBT film festival in India to be held in a mainstream theatre. Founded in 2010, KASHISH is held over 5 days at three venues. It is the first Indian LGBT festival to be held with approval by the Information & Broadcasting Ministry, Government of India. KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival is presented by KASHISH Arts Foundation and organized by Solaris Pictures. Besides the annual film festival its other initiatives are KASHISH Forward – India’s first travelling 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.
KASHISH 2018 FESTIVAL THEME
The 9th edition of KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival will celebrate pride and the infinite diversities of families, communities, gender, sex, ethnicity and body types. The fight for equal rights and societal acceptance is also a fight against discrimination of any sort, and equal rights can be only achieved when all of us – LGBTIQ and Allies – come together with pride to celebrate being ourselves.