Pride Month: Kashish promises rich haul of movies; new venues signal opening of spaces for LGBTQ+ community. Mumbai’s Kashish Pride Film Festival returns from June 4–8, 2025, with 152 LGBTQ+ films from 48 countries. Screenings will be held at Bandra, Andheri, and Marine Lines with the theme ‘Love is Peace’.
The Kashish team at the Mumbai Press Club yesterday
It is sweet 16 for Mumbai’s annual Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer+ (LGBTQ+) film festival — the Kashish Pride Film Festival. The festival’s highlights were announced, and advisory board and jury members spoke at a press conference on Wednesday late afternoon at the Mumbai Press Club.
Kashish will be held in the first few days of Pride month, from June 4 to June 8, 2025. The festival kicks off at St Andrews Auditorium in Bandra (West) on June 4 and will then play at Cinepolis, Andheri (West), and Alliance Francaise, Marine Lines, between June 5 and 8. The curtain raiser is in Bandra, rather than Liberty cinema, Marine Lines in South Mumbai which was always the classy opening act of the fest.
Viveck Vaswani, Arunaraje Patil and Onir at the press conference. Pics/Nimesh Dave
The grand sweep of Liberty’s staircase formed an eye-catching backdrop for so many Kashish photographs. A new venue, though, also means that more spaces in the city are inclusive, and that is something to cheer about.
Rich haul
The festival will screen 152 films from 48 countries, with films from Iceland, Peru, Serbia, Uzbekistan, Nigeria and Palestine. There are a haul of films from South Asia, India, Bangladesh and Bhutan. Indian films top the list with 37 films, followed by the US with 34 films and the UK with 19 films. Some key films include ‘Queer’, featuring Daniel Craig, and ‘Close To You’, featuring Elliot Page as lead actor and producer; the Dutch film ‘Out’ by Dennis Alink; and ‘Odd Fish’ by Snævar Sölvason, set in a beautiful Icelandic township.
The festival’s theme ‘Love=Peace’ is apt in conflict-ridden times. Saagar Gupta, festival artistic director, said, “Peace isn’t just the absence of conflict — it’s the presence of love. Love for who we are, for each other, for the spaces we belong to, and for every identity that makes us whole.” Gupta pointed to the vast array of films audiences will be able to watch through the festival, “from countries which may not have a booming film industry,” he stated.
Founder and festival director Sridhar Rangayan said, “We have a line-up of films that will appeal to the younger audiences in the suburbs; the festival hopes to infuse new energy and enthusiasm.” Rangayan added at the press meet about the bouquet of films, “This time several consulates ensured we have at least one or two movies from their countries in the festival.”
Board Speak
Director Onir’s film ‘We Are Faheem & Karun’ is the Indian Narrative Centrepiece film, while the Romanian film ‘Three Kilometres To The End Of The World’ by Emanuel Parvu is the International Narrative Centrepiece film. Arunaraje Patil, acclaimed filmmaker on the fest’s advisory board, said on Wednesday, “One way we can be more inclusive is to communicate. Movies help us to do this and take us right to the heart of the matter.” Onir had the attendees laughing as he said at the meet, “I do not know why it is so difficult for those from the non-queer world to even see these films. There are those that feel ‘threatened’ by watching a film,” he said to chuckles.
He added, “I have seen so many ‘straight’ films and not become straight, so why would watching a queer film make anyone queer?” he asked for more laughter. Viveck Vaswani, actor, producer, and writer, said it is vital to “visibly support” these festivals and for festivals like these to expand to maybe two editions a year; “one needs financial support too.” The film program and details can be found on the website: https://mumbaiqueerfest.com.
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