45 FILMS IN COMPETITION AT KASHISH 2015

Forty-five films will compete for top awards at the 6th KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film festival to be held between May 27 – May 31, 2015. South Asia’s biggest and India’s only mainstream LGBTQ film festival, which will screen 180 films from 44 countries, will be held at three venues in South Mumbai – Liberty Cinema, Alliance Francaise de Bombay and Max Mueller Bhavan.

“It is very important to recognize and encourage filmmakers who make LGBTQ films against much odds, with very limited resources. They are swimming against the mainstream and need all the cheering,’’ says Sridhar Rangayan, festival director. At KASHISH 2015, some of the best LGBT films from all over the world compete for awards in seven categories. The total cash prize at the festival is to the tune of Rs 1.05 lakhs – for the various film categories as well as the international poster design contest.

An eminent jury panel comprising filmmakers and actors will judge the seven competition categories – Best Narrative Feature Film, Best Documentary Feature Film, Best Documentary Short Film, Best International Narrative Short Film, Best Indian Narrative Short Film, Riyad Wadia Award for Best Emerging Indian Filmmaker and Best Performance in a Lead Role. Anupam Kher’s Actor Prepares will sponsor cash awards of Rs 30,000 for the Best Narrative Feature Film and Rs 20,000 each for the Best Indian Narrative Short Film and the Best Performance in a Lead Role. The winner of the Riyad Wadia Award for Best Emerging Indian Filmmaker will win a cash prize of Rs 15,000 sponsored by Wadia Movietone. There is also a prize money of Rs 20,000 for the winner of the international poster design contest, which is sponsored by one of India’s top fashion designer Wendell Rodricks.

The Best Indian short film at KASHISH also gets to compete for the Iris Prize in UK which carries a cash prize of 25,000 pounds.

In the Narrative Feature category, five films compete for the top award: Appropriate Behaviour (USA) by Desiree Akhavan, Boys (The Netherlands) by Mischa Kamp, The Dream Children (Australia) by Robert Chuter, Skin Deep (Australia) by Jonnie Leahy and Waiting In The Wings: The Musical (USA) by Jeffrey A Johns

In the Documentary Feature category, five films compete for the award: Carla’s Journey (Spain) by Fernando Olmeda , Do I Sound Gay (USA) by David Thorpe, Open Windows (Spain/France) by Michèle Massé, Out In The Line-Up (Australia) by Ian W Thomson and Two Men And A Cradle (France) by Florence Helleux, Smaïn Belhadj.

In the Indian Narrative Short film category, the nominees are Delusion (Bhram) by Manoj S.Thorat, A Full Stop That Searches For Its End (Mudivai Thaedum Muttripulli) by Vivek Vishwanathan, Guy Next Door by Pradipta Ray, Jheel by Shubra D, Smita V, Pratek S, Anurup K (students of Tata Institute of Social Sciences), The Lover (Doyita) by Arpan Roychowdhury, and Sundar by Rohan Kanawade.

Pradipta Ray and Rohan Kanawade have earlier won the Riyad Wadia Award for Best Emerging Filmmaker at KASHISH 2012 and 2013 respectively.