KASHISH Forward travels to Kolkata's Presidency campus with LGBT films

 

“It is important to create awareness about issues faced by LGBT persons, especially problems faced by youth in terms of understanding their identity, bullying they face by their friends, and acceptance by family members. KASHISH is delighted that we are bringing these films to Kolkata to raise awareness”, said Sridhar Rangayan, festival director of KASHISH MIQFF. Rangayan will be talking about the issues and presenting the films in Kolkata.

 

KASHISH Forward has already had screenings at several colleges in Mumbai – IIT Bombay, Wilson College, Tata Institute of Social Sciences and SCM Sophia – and recently created ripples in Chandigarh where for the first time it screened LGBT films at Panjab University.

 

Mridu Rai, Professor of History, Presidency University, said: "An important task of universities is to shape a body of future leaders of society and makers of opinions who keep their minds open to the rich diversity of life and of fellow human beings. Events such as KASHISH Forward and conversations that grow out of it are an important part of such learning.” 

 

The event titled ‘KASHISH Forward’ will screen award winning Indian and international short films and documentaries related to youth and LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender). The films are very sensitive and informational, offering both an Indian and global view about the issue.

 

This screening is part of the 12 screenings across India being organized by KASHISH Forward, which is the first ever travelling campus LGBT film festival in India. 

 

The main objective of this film festival is to ‘create awareness, enable acceptance and inspire empowerment’. This initiative is supported by Movies That Matter (Netherlands).

 

Echoing the need for such film screenings, Sayantan Dutta, a student of Undergraduate Second Year B.Sc. Hons. in Biological Sciences says, “I think it is extremely important that such issues be brought up in the campus, because a major part of this social evil is happening in the campus all around the country. Starting from bullying, to even assault, members of the queer community are vulnerable to a variety of such traumatic experiences, and all this stems from a lack of awareness and discussion in the campus. So, I thank KASHISH Forward for creating this forum of discussion, mediated through cinema. Universities like Presidency are coming forward and extending their hand towards such initiatives, and this needs to reach far and wide.”

 

Some of the films to be screened are ‘Caged’ (The Netherlands) about bullying in campus, ‘Tell Me A Story’ (India) about four short stories on identity, ‘Blue Dress’ (Spain) and ‘A Love Such As This’ about acceptance by a mother of her gay son, ‘Because…’ about pride march, and ‘Stealth’ (USA) about a young transgender girl who comes out in school and the discrimination she faces. The lead actor Kristina Hernandez of this film who is a real life transgender girl won the Best Actress Award at KASHISH 2015.

The film screening will be followed by a panel discussion: ‘Homophobia, Gender Senstitization, and Queer Issues in relation to the Campus'

 

Event: KASHISH Forward, campus LGBT film festival

 

Date: September 29, 2015

Time: 3.30am – 6.30pm

Venue: AJC Bose Auditorium, Presidency University, 86/1, College St, College Square, Kolkata 700073