KASHISH 2021 Documentary Features in Competition

A WORM IN THE HEART
Dir: Paul Rice / 88 min / Russia, Ireland, USA

The documentary follows the trajectory of the Trans-Siberian Railway through Russia, Mongolia and China as Paul Rice and Liam Jackson Montgomery, a gay couple, stop off to meet with members of the LGBTQ+ community. The film is a collection of emotionally driven personal interviews captured on the journey that collectively capture the current state of the LGBTQ community in these three countries.

CANELA
Dir: Cecilia del Valle / 77 min / Argentina

Áyax Grandi, an architect from the city of Rosario, at 48 he decided to become Canela. This film narrates the parenthesis in the life of Canela where she is torn between having gender reassignment operating surgery or not. With that concern, a search begins. She consults with healthcare professionals, her sons and old friends until she realizes something about her desire that she didn’t really expect.

This film captures GID (gender identity disorder) /GD (Gender dysphoria ) /Transgender people in Japan, as well as the problems they face on a daily basis. We also discuss the issues caused by the restrictive requirements of the Gender Identity Disorder Special Cases Act, the law that allows changing of legal sexes. We all have been living together this entire time, but somehow GID/GD/Transgender people are always treated as they don’t exist. They are often discriminated against and judged as some kind of perverts and weirdos. This film explores the reality of the Japanese transgender community through the various interviews with GID/GD/Transgender people.

PRIDE & PROTEST
Dir: Blaise Singh / 90 min / UK

PRIDE & PROTEST is the film synthesis of the many conversations shared by the Rainbow Films team on important but often ignored issues met by QPOC about racism within the larger queer community, as well as issues around intersectionality and visible diversity in the more mainstream and White heteronormative society they live in.

PRINCE OF DREAMS
Dir: Jessica Nettelbladt / 90 min / Sweden

Erik was born female, but from an early age he felt trapped in the wrong body. When he was 18, he began his transition with hormone treatments and surgery. After meeting Martyna, the love of his life, thoughts of what makes a person a real man weigh on his mind. He struggles with body dysphoria – would he ever be able to accept himself? Suppressed memories resurface. Troubling incidents from the past: bullying at school, years of sexual abuse. Anxiety and depression have left him too ill to work, but a new door opens as well – a journey beyond his wildest dreams.

Prince of Dreams was filmed over the course of 10 years, beginning when Erik was 17. Though it deals with serious issues, the film is also alive with humor and with love.

REBEL DYKES
Dir: Harri Shanahan, Siân A. Williams / 82 min / UK

The film follows a tight-knit group of friends who met at Greenham Common peace camp and went on to become artists, performers, musicians and activists in London. A heady mash-up of animation, archive footage and interviews tells the story of a radical scene: squatters, BDSM nightclubs, anti-Thatcher rallies, protests demanding action around AIDS and the fierce ties of chosen family. This is an extraordinarily privileged glimpse into a bygone world by those who not only lived out their politics with heartfelt conviction but lived to tell the tale.