Reel Desires: Chennai International Queer Film Festival 2023
ELEVENTH EDITION OF REEL DESIRES: CHENNAI INTERNATIONAL QUEER FILM FESTIVAL, SHOWCASES DIVERSE GENDER AND SEXUALITIES AUGUST 18-20, 2023
MEDIA RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Stills are available for download at https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1vUnmOyBYLb2jvHrljE1D5EPVClwsPGv7?usp=share_link
Brochure is available here.
For more information, contact 98433-73433 or 98415-57983, email chennaiintlqueerfilmfest@gmail.com or visit www.ciqff.org.
The eleventh annual edition of Reel Desires: Chennai International Queer Film Festival will be held at the Goethe-Institut, Chennai, from August 18-20, 2023. Reel Desires features films, shorts and documentaries showcasing sexuality and gender diversity issues. This year’s line-up consists of 30 films from 12 countries, selected via a community-led review process. The principal organisers of CIQFF 2023 are Orinam and Goethe-Institut, working in collaboration with Nirangal Charitable Trust and SAATHII.
On Friday, August 18, the inauguration will be followed by a short performance by Chennai-based drag artist Nethu Nightu Neelambari. Shorts to be screened include Chummy Matrimony (2021), Thine Own Self (2021), That Dark Day (2022), Vaanavil (2022) Stiletto (2023), and Bésame (Kiss Me) (2022). Friday’s feature-length documentary film Who Owns The Sky? (Wem Gehört der Himmel) features interviews with activists from artistic and academic environments in Argentina and Switzerland. They question the validity of enforced hetero norms and their consequences, in response to an innovative Gender Identity Law that was passed in Argentina in 2012. The discussions are embedded and impressively addressed in art activism through performances that centre the body as a political instrument.
Films on Saturday, August 19, will focus on families that queer and trans people are born into, forced into or choose for ourselves. These include Impasse (2022) that features the life of Ashok, an immigrant auto driver from Tamil Nadu, living in Mumbai, who is torn between his life of married respectability with a wife and child, and his desire for men. Binary Error (2022) from Kerala highlights the choice some queer and trans people have to make between their natal families and living their truth. The joyous Russian animation All Men Should Have Shoes (2021) narrates the story of trans guy Herman, whose supportive mother believes that only men’s shoes will help her son complete his social transition. A highlight will be the film-festival premiere of Ekka Dokka Tekka (One Two Three) by Tirthankar Guha Thakurta. In this short, three popular mainstream writings in Bengali literature (Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay and Rabindranath Tagore) are retold through a queer lens set in Kolkata.
Saturday’s film screenings will be followed by a panel discussion Queer Families: Beyond the Marriage Equality Debate. Panelists, who include members of Chennai’s LGBTQIA+ communities and allies, explore the notion of family beyond what is affirmed by our laws, culture, religion, media, and advertisements. The panel discussion assumes relevance in light of the awaited Supreme Court verdict on marriage equality. Following the panel discussion will be a hip-hop party on the roof of Goethe-Institut, with entry limited to 100 persons.
Films to be screened on Sunday, August 20, include Diva, a fan letter to Diva Cat Thy, a Vietnamese trans woman, street food vendor, and performer, who openly shares her life and struggles daily on social media. Oas (Dewdrops) (2022) is the story of two queer women who broke up some time back but are still in love. In Required Reading (2022), a cis, straight-identifying male and a non-binary person fall in love. Will they find the courage to be honest with both themselves and the world? Pussy Cruising (2021) tackles the topic of lesbian cruising in a humorous way and takes viewers on a flirtatious journey between vibrant fantasy and mundane reality. The just-released short documentary Transcending Boundaries (2023) features queer, trans, and intersex activists speaking about struggles for transgender rights in Kerala.
On Sunday evening, the play Neela Bhoomi directed by Tamilarasi R., captures the life of a lesbian couple as they strive to make a home together against all odds.
The closing film is the acclaimed feature Neubau (German, Vietnamese). It follows a trans man Markus, who is torn between his love for his grandmothers in need of care and his longing for urban self- determination in Berlin. When Vietnamese technician Duc enters his life, things become more complicated, as Markus has to decide if he should stay or go.
As LGBTQIA+ collectives in India advocate for inclusive institutions and reduced discrimination, we also work to engender change in hearts and minds, a task substantially more challenging than legal reform. One way we do this is by participating in and producing cultures that reflect both the universality and specificity of our experiences.
Reel Desires: Chennai International Queer Film Festival 2023, curated under this name since 2013, is the latest in a series of over 18 queer-themed film festivals held in Chennai to date, beginning in November 2004. The event is free and open to individuals 18 years and older.
Stills are available for download at https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1vUnmOyBYLb2jvHrljE1D5EPVClwsPGv7?usp=share_link
