Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival is celebrating International Transgender Day of Visibility on Wednesday with a daylong online program of film screenings and discussion titled Kashish Trans*Fest.

There are 4 programs under this event: International Shorts, Indian Shorts, a Panel Discussion and a National Award-winning documentary. The films are streaming on BookMyShow platform, and audiences across the world can access these programs at a very modest cost. Proceeds will be given to Tweet Foundation, an NGO in Delhi working for the welfare of the transgender community.

“This one-day festival of LGBTQ films from India and around the world highlights the life of Transwomen and Transmen, not only their struggles, but their small little victories in finding love and acceptance by families and society. We are happy to be doing our bit to support the Transgender community in India”, said Sridhar Rangayan, festival director of Kashish.

The other Indian short films being screened are Guptadhan by Makarand Sawant, Birds Of Paradise by Rahul MM, Sex Changed by Ankit Gupta, Wig by Atanu Mukherjee and Miss Man by Tathagata Ghosh.

The international selection includes Mrs.McCutcheon (USA) by John Sheedy, The Family Album (USA) by Anthony Chapman, I'm Alex (Spain) by Joss Manz & Itzuri Sánchez, Plunge (UK) by David James Holloway & Samuel Lawrence, The Summer Of 12 (Taiwan) by Kuan-Ling Kuo and Sunken Plum (China) by Roberto F. Canuto & Xiaoxi Xu.

The day-long festival also features a Live Panel Discussion that explores how corporate India is including transgender professionals at workplace and what more is required to create a more trans-inclusive work environment and society.

The panelists are transgender men and women professionals working with corporates, and NGO representatives focused on skilling trans people to be career ready. The panel discussion is being moderated by Anupama Easwaran from InHarmony, a Mumbai based Diversity & Inclusion consultancy.

Anupama Eashwaran said, “I started my journey of working with the transgender community three and half years back. One of the first events I attended during my research was the Kashish Queer Film Festival where I watched this beautiful Kannada movie Naanu Avanalla...Avalu based on the life of the trans woman, Living Smile Vidya. This was also my first solo movie viewing experience and I had a gay couple to give me company in shedding tears almost right through the movie. This movie, the film festival and interacting with many wonderful people transformed my life."

"I met trans activist Abhina Aher here, who is today a dear friend and with whom I have worked on many trans empowerment initiatives, including the “Trans Is?” webinar series. Today, it gives me immense pleasure to collaborate with the KASHISH team and moderate a panel discussion on a topic that I am immensely passionate about. Life has turned a full circle with Kashish!” she said.

The event is brought in collaboration with InHarmony and Tweet Foundation as Community Partners.

The 12th edition of the Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival is scheduled from May 20 – 30, 2021 as an online event and will feature 150+ films from 50+ countries. More information can be viewed at http://mumbaiqueerfest.com

(IBNS)