#ciqff2016

The organizing collective of Reel Desires, Chennai International Queer Film Festival 2016 would like to thank all the volunteers, supporters, filmmakers, cultural performers, technicians, panel discussants, and media persons who helped make it a success. 

Some of the media coverage and curtain-raisers are linked below. 

http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/the-lowdown-on-chennai-international-queer-film-festival-2016/article8911242.ece

http://indulge.newindianexpress.com/screen-pride-2/section/56671

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Queer-film-festival-to-focus-on-struggles-of-community/articleshow/53407275.cms

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/lifestyle/viral-and-trending/250716/bringing-reel-desires-to-life.html

A write-up of Day 2 is below:

Day 2 of #ReelDesires #CIQFF2016 began with Máscaras, David San Juan's hilarious take on love and revenge. Taejha Singh Susheela's lavani performance piece was greatly appreciated, as was his introduction to the Marathi folk dance form and its variants in 17th century Tanjavur.

Directors Akhil Sathyan (That's my Boy) and Aaditya Joshi (Darwaaze) had travelled to Chennai for the filmfest, and received much applause for their films. While Akhil has already garnered awards for his documentary on transman Sonu, Aditya's world premiere of Darwaaze received enthusiastic response for its portrayal of a very real problem faced by queer couples - finding and keeping housing. Sanyogeeta Bhave's performance as the Puneri housewife who is curious about, then warms up to, the nice boys next door, was stellar. As was Veena Nair's portrayal of the fierce mother in Vikrant Dhote / Srikant A. Krishnan's short Any Other Day. The film-fest premiere of Mridul George 's evocative Mattoru Katha (Yet Another Story) rounded off this year's selection of brilliant Indian queer shorts.

Many of the films today explored the theme of interpersonal and/or systemic violence: Jake Graf's Dawn, James Doherty's Breathe, Any Other Day, and Nancy Nicol's Sangini. The last-mentioned - a documentary on (late) Betu Singh and Maya Shanker and their work providing a safe place and crisis support for lesbians, bi women and transmen - highlighted the violence facing those of us assigned female at birth who step out of the bounds of imposed gender or (hetero) sexuality.

Gender- and sexuality-based violence formed the theme of the panel discussion that followed. Sankari, Kalpana Karunakaran, Ragamalika Karthikeyan and Shoba shared their experiences with raising awareness of, preventing or responding to violence faced by ciswomen and/or LGBTI people. The panel concluded with Sankari's tips for LGBTI youth to prevent situations from escalating into crises, and a call for women's rights and anti-DV movements to work together with queer/trans movements to eradicate gender-based violence. Post-panel discussions in the lobby around sensitizing shelters and short-stay homes on queer/trans issues suggested that the discussants had brought some of the audience closer to thinking about workable strategies. Special thanks to Kalpana Karunakaran and Shoba for gamely agreeing to be on the panel at the last moment. We missed Poongkhulali Balasubramanian and Swetha Shankar.

REEL DESIRES: CHENNAI INTERNATIONAL QUEER FILM FESTIVAL

Venue: Goethe-Institut Chennai | Max Mueller Bhavan, 4 Rutland Gate 5th Street,  Nungambakkam, Chennai

Dates: July 29: Friday 6 pm - 9 pm (3 hours) July 30: Saturday 3 pm - 9 pm (6 hours) July 31: Sunday 3 pm - 9 pm (6 hours)

Information: 98415-57983, [email protected] and website ciqff.org

A collection of Chennai-based collectives and NGOs working on gender and sexuality, in partnership with Goethe-Institut Chennai | Max Mueller Bhavan brings you Reel Desires: Chennai International Queer Film Festival, July 29-31, 2016. Reel Desires is a three-day series of feature films, shorts, and documentaries showcasing sexuality and gender diversity issues.  The 26 films selected for this year span eight countries, and include shorts, documentaries and feature length films. They collectively chronicle the global struggle for rights of lesbian, gay, bi and transgender people, explore individual and collective journeys that cross physical and metaphorical borders, and reflect the universality and specificity of LGBT lives across space and time.

The principal organizers are Orinam, a local collective that has been working since 2003 to end discrimination and provide social and support spaces for the LGBTQI communities in Chennai, Goethe-Institut and several community groups and NGOs including Nirangal, RIOV, SAATHII, and East-West Center for Counseling.

Highlights include Hansal Mehta’s acclaimed feature ‘Aligarh’, a depiction of the life of Prof Siras, who succumbed to homophobia at the university where he was teaching. Shorts from Germany’s Berlinale and Dresden film festivals will also be screened at Reel Desires.

This year, Reel Desires, is pleased to partner with British Council to bring a selection of shorts to Reel Desires. Mei-kwei Barker, Director British Council, South India said, ‘We are delighted to partner with Reel Desires to present the ‘fiveFilms4freedom’, which is a compilation of 5 short films on LGBT issues. Now in its second year, fiveFilms4freedom is a social media campaign and partnership between the British Film Institute and the British Council to promote equality and diversity.  This year, there were 1.57 million views of these films on Facebook and YouTube, with the films being viewed across 179 countries. fiveFilms4freedom is a classic example of how international campaigns using film and social media can promote values of diversity and human rights globally.’

Besides films, Reel Desires will also feature dance performances by members of the community Ponni, Anjali and Taejha Singh, and a panel discussion on Ending Gender-and Sexuality-based Violence.

Reel Desires is a reminder of our common humanity that transcends boundaries of sexuality, gender identity and culture.  

Reel Desires, Chennai International Queer FIlm Festival invites submissions (copy and paste http://ciqff.org/submit2016 in your browser if you are not redirected) for its upcoming series to be held from July 29 to 31, 2016.

Reel Desires 2016 comes in the wake of India’s Supreme Court's Feb 2, 2016, decision to refer the curative petitions on Section 377 to a five-judge constitutional bench. While offering us hope that the unconstitutional nature of Sec 377 and the grave miscarriage of justice that was the Koushal decision of 2013 may finally be addressed, this development reminds us not to place our lives and hopes on hold waiting for legal sanction. The struggle for social justice must go on, while we wait for the hearing of the curatives and for the passage of a transgender rights bill that sets out a blueprint for implementation of the NALSA (2014) verdict on transgender rights.

While queer and trans* collectives examine our legal and political options to assert our rights, we also seek our place in this world through participating in and producing cultures that reflect both the universality and specificity of our experiences.  We at Reel Desires invite films that augment and enrich these cultures. In addition, we are particularly interested in the films, shorts and documentaries on the following sub-theme:

a. Queerness and Sex Work - films that challenge the normative idea of sex work as 'bad' and counter attempts to sanitise LGBTIQ issues and communities by distancing ourselves from sex work. We would like to consider films that look at lesbian and bi women who sell sex, those that address the conflation of sex work with trafficking, explore fluidity among straight-identified men who are 'gay for pay', and other diverse intersections of gender, sexuality and sex work.

b. Crossing borders in relationships - films that explore cross-cultural relationships and their inherent complexities of power/privilege are invited. Culture is defined broadly here, and could include relationships between trans* (or transitioning) and non-trans people, between queer/trans people with disabilities and those without, mixed-orientation (gay-bisexual, lesbian-bisexual) relationships, and/or involving individuals of different social categories.

Besides these, we are also interested in films that examine sexual and gender fluidity,  and films from under-represented parts of India (the North East, non-metros) and the South Asian region (Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Afghanistan).

To submit, click here