In its fifth year KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival 2014 will move to a new venue – the iconic Liberty Cinema at New Marine Lines. The historic art deco single screen theatre, which has seen premieres and screenings of Bollywood classics over the past half century, will host South Asia’s and India’s biggest and only mainstream LGBT film festival between May 21-25, 2014. The festival will also simultaneously be held at Alliance Francaise de Bombay between May 22-24, 2014.
“The USP of KASHISH has always been that it has been held at a mainstream theater – this is our effort to take queer films to a larger audience for them to understand more about LGBT people and their lives,” said Sridhar Rangayan, Festival Director. “For the last four years PVR and Cinemax multiplex theaters have supported us and we indeed are thankful to them. But it was time to move to a larger theater because we always had over 30% extra audience we couldn’t accommodate. This year, with the big grand Liberty Cinema with over 1000 seating capacity, the festival will be able to accommodate everyone who registers”.
Nazir Hoosein, owner of the theatre said, “Liberty Cinema is delighted to have been chosen as the main venue partner for the KASHISH film festival. We believe in equal rights for everyone. It is our hope that the festival will go a long way in the eventual change in attitudes and elimination of prejudices. We wish the organisers the very best in succeeding in this endeavour.”