FILM FESTIVAL - Gulmohar: South Asian Queer Film Festival 2008 (Sydney; 15-17 August)

Gulmohar: South Asian Queer Film Festival 2008

WHEN: August 15 to 17, 2008
WHERE: MCC, 96 Crystal Street, Petersham, Sydney

http://www.mccsydney.org/SAQFF

An explosion of queer colour comes to Sydney this August with the inaugural South Asian Queer Film Festival, Gulmohar.

The three-day festival kicks off on 15 August 2008 to coincide with India’s 61st Independence day, and is bound to create controversy back home in India where private consensual sex between same-sex partners is still a criminal offence.

With a mix of films, short films and documentaries, Trikone Australasia hopes to increase visibility of the queer South Asian community in Australia and also send a message to South Asian countries, such as India and Bangladesh, where an individual’s choice of being in a same-sex relationship is still seen as a crime. “The aim of the festival is visibility, voice, vision,” says festival director Sadhana Jethanandani. “With Gulmohar, we want to increase visibility of the South Asian queer community in Australia. Voice their emotions and express their feeling through films about and made in South Asian countries. And ultimately become part of the
global vision of providing equal rights to the South Asian LGBQT community,” adds Jethanandani.

We are very honoured and excited to announce that, the festival will be opened by Anton Enus. A broadcast journalist with more than 20 years' experience, Anton currently presents the World News on SBS. He was a founding member of South Africa's gay and lesbian sports movement in the early 1980s and he has also served on committees aimed at reconciling Johannesburg's multi-cultural gay and lesbian communities.

One of the highlights of the festival is, of course, the Australian premier of the highly provocative Indo-UK flick, Yours Emotionally (2006), which kicks off the festival on Friday 15 August. It tells the story of two UK-born boys, Ravi and Paul, who visit India for a holiday and witness an all-night gay-sex party.

Trikone Australasia is a registered non-profit organization set up in 2007. It aims to offer a supportive, empowering and non-judgemental environment, where queer South Asians can meet, make connections and proudly promote awareness and acceptance of their sexuality in society.

ENQUIRIES & INTERVIEWS, CONTACT:
ALAN MAURICE alan.maurice@yahoo.com.au
ROOPALI PANDEY roopalipandey@yahoo.com