The LGBTQI community members in Lucknow have taken the short film route to bring their ‘coming out’ and struggle stories into the public domain. Around 20 films have been made in this series, and another one on Kajal Kiran, a transgender gram pradhan from Bidhnu block, Kanpur Dehat, is in post-production.
Four of them — Abeer dealing with self-acceptance, Jatin on family acceptance, Tanzeel on homosexuality and All About Prep on health issues — have been earlier screened at 22nd International AIDS conferences at Amsterdam and won prizes. Besides, I Am What I Am and The Mirror won prizes at the Blued Queered Flick Festival, New Delhi.
“Such short films do leave a mark. They opened much-needed dialogues between community, family and society. They sensitively deal with queer issues,” says Sumit Srivastava, an executive director.
Tanzeel Ahmed tells us about his film. “It shows how I reconcile my faith into my religion. For me, it was a step ahead to accepting myself with my orientation with more confidence. Also, I was surprised to see my old friends sending me ‘proud of you’ messages. I come from Gorakhpur, so it brought a ray of hope for the people in small towns as well,” he says and adds that now he wants to open a TG Clinic in Lucknow.
LGBT activist Yadavendra Singh Darvesh, who directed most of these shorts, says, “After watching them, one guy came out to his family, and I provided counselling to his parents and also screened Jatin’s film for the entire family. The second case was from Bangalore, where a mother of a lesbian girl got in touch with me post-screening of these movies in her city. She wanted to know issues so that she can understand her daughter well.”
{{/usCountry}}LGBT activist Yadavendra Singh Darvesh, who directed most of these shorts, says, “After watching them, one guy came out to his family, and I provided counselling to his parents and also screened Jatin’s film for the entire family. The second case was from Bangalore, where a mother of a lesbian girl got in touch with me post-screening of these movies in her city. She wanted to know issues so that she can understand her daughter well.”
{{/usCountry}}Ritwik Das, the writer of Kajal Kiran’s short film and member of Awadh Queer Pride Committee, tells that his inspiration was also a show. “I came out of the closet after watching the Satyamev Jayate episode. Listening to Simran ma’am (Sheikh, transwoman) and documentaries shot on Laxmi (Narayan Tripathi, activist) ma’am also inspired me,” he says.
A graphic designer by profession and cinematographer for this film Megha Nandi feels that visual medium is the best way to bring a change and impact the mindsets of the people towards understanding the sensitive issues.