Today sees the opening of the fifth annual Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival, and advance sales are going well at a time when the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in India are in a fragile state. 154 films will be screening at the festival, from a total of 34 countries, making it the biggest event of its kind in southern Asia. The UK's My Mother will be among them.
This year's festival is themed around transgender issues, a hot topic in the country following a Supreme Court decision last month to recognise hijras (a group roughly corresponding to trans women and intersex people, in UK terms) as a third gender. The same ruling may have referred to them as socially and economically backward, but it is nevertheless seen as a victory by many activists, and a first step toward getting their needs recognised. Meanwhile, gay, lesbian and bisexual people in India are in a state of limbo following another court action which overturned a ruling that had made gay sex legal. There were hopes that this ruling, which hinged on a technicality, would be resolved by parliament, but the election of the openly homophobic BJP has now made that less likely.
Despite this situation, many parts of India remain welcoming to LGBT people and the festival has the official approval of the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. In its mission statement it describes itself as "an attempt to encourage greater visibility of Indian and International queer cinema among both queer and mainstream audiences as a means to foster better understanding of queer thoughts, desires and expressions."
The festival is opening with Out In The Dark, the story of a difficult romance between an Israeli man and a Palestinian man. It will run until Sunday.
