KASHISH Forward will screen LGBTQ films at Jadavpur University

KASHISH Forward – India’s first travelling LGBTQ campus film festival – will travel to Kolkata on October 17, 2016. Jadavpur University will host an evening of films on gender, human rights and sexuality for its faculty and students. KASHISH Forward is an initiative of KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival, South Asia’s biggest LGBTQ film festival.

In the continuing endeavor to bring more awareness about the LGBTQ community, Prof. Pratulananda Das, well known Mathematician and a Member of National Academy of Sciences, India, who openly came out as gay few years back has taken the initiative to bring “KASHISH Forward” in his own university, Jadavpur University. “I personally approached Vice Chancellor Prof. Suranjan Das for necessary permission and he fully supported the initiative,” said Prof. Das and added, “We hope this event will help faculties and students have a clearer picture about the struggle of the LGBTQ community and make educational spaces free of gender bias and more queer friendly.”

“KASHISH Forward is one of the flagship initiatives of KASHISH and we are really proud that we are able to reach across to the youth with films that particularly focus on their lives and issues. While it is a re-affirmation of their identity for many LGBTQ youth, it is an eye-opener for other students and faculties who don’t know what LGBTQ youth go through in their formative years,” said filmmaker and Festival Director Sridhar Rangayan. “KASHISH Forward is definitely a call for awakening, to be more sensitive, to be more inclusive,” added Rangayan.

Ranjita Sinha and Aparna Banerjee, Members of the West Bengal Transgender Welfare Board will be present during the screening as special invitees. The films to be screened are award winners and critically acclaimed films at the seventh edition of KASHISH MIQFF that was held in May 2016.