समाचार

Oscar-winning producer Guneet Monga Kapoor and filmmaker Vikramaditya Motwane are among 16 jury members set to judge 12 competition categories at the 16th edition of India’s Kashish Pride Film Festival.

Joining Monga Kapoor and Motwane are director-producer Abhishek Chaubey and producer Neeraj Churi as jury members for the Kashish QDrishti Film Grant, which awards $3000 to an LGBTQ+ identifying filmmaker to make a short film. Actor Renuka Shahane will support two runners-up.

The narrative jury features actor Shishir Sharma, actor and TV host Shruti Seth and filmmaker Tanuja Chandra, who will adjudge best narrative feature and shorts, best screenplay and best performance awards. These categories receive backing from Taiwanese streaming platform GagaOoLala, production house Samruddhi Studios and actor Abhay Kulkarni.

Documentary filmmakers Bishaka Dutta, Prateek Vats and Shubhra Chatterjee comprise the documentary jury, selecting winners of the unity in diversity documentary feature and short awards, supported by K.F. Patil Charitable Trust.

Akash Menon and Mir Tawseef as Karun and Faheem

When I met Onir the week before last, the celebrated Indian filmmaker was looking forward to his second visit to London’s BFI Flare, having screened Pine Cone there last year. This year’s offering, Kashmiri love story We Are Faheem & Karun is one of the best films at the festival so I was delighted to have the opportunity to discuss it, but he’s modest about his work.

“I was overwhelmed,” he says of his 2024 experience. “Within the first two days, the tickets were sold out, and they requested for a third show. And they asked me ‘Why do you think your film is so popular?’ I said that all the South Asians must be coming. And then, before the show started, when I was taken in to the cinema, I realised that 80% of the audience was not South Asians.

Renowned filmmaker Onir, a champion of queer narratives and indie cinema, is thrilled to announce that his latest film, We Are Faheem & Karun, will be screened at the 39th edition of the prestigious BFI Flare on March 20 and 22, 2025.

Onir shared his excitement, stating, “This will be the international premiere of our film and the first time a Kashmiri language film, shot entirely in the border regions of Gurez, Kashmir, is showing at the festival. The film would also be the first queer narrative from the Valley. A love story set in Gurez, Kashmir between a security guard at a construction site, Karun, from Kerala, and a local Kashmiri college student, Faheem.”

The film’s inclusion at BFI Flare marks a significant moment for Kashmiri representation in global cinema. Onir emphasized the importance of this milestone, adding, “I am proud that my Kashmiri cast members too will be present at the screening in London.

A film which has been on the Directors Notes radar since we caught it at the London Film Festival last October, Sarah speaks to Sandhya Suri, writer/director of the BAFTA nominated/British Independent Film Awards winning crime thriller Santosh, about feeling compelled to step out of her documentary background for this gripping feature exploring the complexities between women in positions of power and dissecting the all too common violence inflicted on women.

[Read the full interview]

Links

The 9 Short Films Deserving of Top Billing on Your BFI Flare 2025 Watchlist

Onir’s ‘We Are Faheem & Karun’ Tells Kashmir’s First Queer Love Story

Head to Directors Notes for more filmmaker interviews and to watch our daily selection of new films. If you’d like your film featured on Dn, submit it here.

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