Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival, India’s biggest LGBT film fest, is all set to enthrall the audiences in Mumbai. Since its debut in 2010, KASHISH has become not only a festival that spotlights LGBTQ cinema, but is also a landmark festival in Mumbai’s cultural event calendar. KASHISH 2013 will be held from May 22-26 2013 at Cinemax Versova, Andheri West and from May 23-25, 2012 at Alliance Française de Bombay, Marine Lines.
This year, the theme of the festival is `Towards Change’. The festival this year will make a special effort to program films and have panel discussions that not only deal with gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender themes, but also those that relate to families and friends of LGBT people. “The growth and spread of KASHISH has been phenomenal. We are in our fourth year and there are a lot more expectations. It will be a challenge to ensure that we balance awareness and entertainment to provide a diverse range of programs for our audiences. KASHISH is no more just a film festival, but an annual cultural experience, and we hope to live up to it,” said festival director Sridhar Rangayan.
Many famous personalities, including Anupam Kher, Resul Pookutty, Renuka Shahane, Parvin Dabas, and Mona Ambegaonkar had graced the festival last year, and this year too, Kashish promises to be star studded event. The festival will screen 132 films from 40 countries with more number of features and documentaries than ever from countries as diverse as Uganda, Serbia, Iran, Slovakia, Pakistan and China.