Mumbai: The 15th edition of Kashish Pride film festival will be held from May 15 to 19 across several venues in the city, including Liberty, Alliance Francaise and Cinepolis, Andheri (W).
At a recent press conference to announce the festival, four short films ``Sanai” by Akanccha Karki (Nepal), ``Mehroon” by Abu Sohel Khanekar (India), ``The Gray’s” by Mohsin (Iran) and ``DL Guy” by Chad Zemel (US) were screened to a glimpse of what is in store at the festival.
Aaron D’souza ,head of operations, Kashish introduced the festival and the transition of Kashish Mumbai International Queer film festival to Kashish Pride film festival. He said the festival will be extended to other cities in future.
Saagar Gupta, director of programming, said 133 films from 46 countries across categories of documentaries, narrative films will be showcased during the five-day film festival. The new additions to the festival this year is the Asia Pacific Queer Film Festival Alliance Award with a cash prize of USD 1,000 supported by GagaOOLala, along with the Keshav Suri Foundation awarding the best Indian film on mental health.
Ten of the films are directed by transgenders. The films will focus on the stigmas around the queer community and look through a sensitive lens around their narratives.