>Bearcat at 01:17, 8 April 2021

2021-04-08T01:17:50Z

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{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2020}}
{{short description|LGBT event}}
{{Infobox Film Festival
| name = Reel Desires: Chennai International Queer Film Festival
| image =
| caption =
| number =
| location = [[Chennai]], [[India]]
| language = International
| website = {{URL|http://www.ciqff.org/}}
}}
'''Chennai International Queer Film Festival''' (also known as '''''Reel Desires: Chennai International Queer Film Festival''''') is a three-day LGBT- event that usually takes places on the last weekend of July as a part of the city's pride events. The main organizers are SAATHII and [[Orinam]] in partnership with [[Goethe-Institut]], Chennai. The other volunteers include various community groups and NGOs, including Nirangal, East-West Center for Counselling, and RIOV. The last day is usually performances along with a panel discussion, usually to discuss and bring out the challenges faced by community members.
<ref name="hindu">{{cite web|url=http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/Where-the-mind-is-without-fear/article14513160.ece|title= Where the mind is without fear|accessdate= 19 June 2017}}</ref>

==Background==
This LGBT-film festival is being held from 2005 in the city.<ref name="Preeti Zachariah">{{cite web|url=http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/txYJZzdXmfdEiJGSAjPKcN/Preview-Chennai-International-Queer.html|title=Preview: Chennai International Queer|date=24 Jul 2015|author=Preeti Zachariah|accessdate=22 Jul 2017}}</ref> The shorts, documentary and feature film submissted usually explore the intersections among sexuality/gender identity and other forms of marginalization, also including those based on gender, disability, immigrant/refugee status, caste, socio-economic class, religion, age, and race/ethnicity.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thehindu.com/features/cinema/cinema-columns/the-genre-and-the-specific/article6249236.ece|title=The genre and the specific|publisher=The Hindu|accessdate= 22 Jul 2017|author=Baradwaj Rangan}}</ref><ref name="hindu"/>

==2017==
The 12th queer film festival in 2017 saw 27 films, which were chosen from nearly 70 submissions from 12 countries.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gaysifamily.com/2017/07/25/reel-desired-chennai-international-queer-film-festival-2017/|date= 25 Jul 2017|title=Reel Desires: Chennai International Queer Film Festival 2017}}</ref> The event also saw a panel discussion about the activism in the south of India, around LGBTQIA, titled `South of the Norm: LGBTIQA+ activism in southern India'.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/focus-on-diversity-queer-film-festival-returns-explores-asexuality-amp-more/articleshow/59784359.cms|title=Chennai: Queer film festival returns, explores asexuality and more|date=27 July 2017}}</ref>

=== Movies Screened ===
Some of the movies screened include:
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|- style="background:#ccc; text-align:center;"
! scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" | Title
! scope="col" | Country
! scope="col" | Theme
|-
| 2017
! scope="row" | ''Siebzehn (Seventeen)''
| Germany
| Lesbian
|-
| 2017
! scope="row" | '' Abar Jodi Ichchha Karo (If you dare desire)''
| India
| Lesbian
|-
| 2012
! scope="row" | ''All About Our Famila''
| India
| Hijra
|-
| 2017
! scope="row" | '' [[Ladies and Gentlewomen]]''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/movies/chennai-queer-film-festival-2017/article19370190.ece|title=Celebrating queer pride|author=Chitradeepa Anantharam | date=27 July 2017}}</ref>
| India
| Lesbian
|-
| 2016
! scope="row" | ''Ka Bodyscapes''
| India
| Gay
|-
| 2016
! scope="row" | ''Is It Too Much To Ask?''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/2017/jul/26/real-queer-stories-on-reel-1633981.html|title=Real queer stories on reel|date=26 July 2017|author= Abinaya Kalyanasundaram }}</ref>
| India
| Trans woman
|}

==2016==
It is the fourth time the Goethe-Institut is collaborating with the Reel Desires. Of the 80 films received, the organizers chose 26 films from eight countries. Some notable movies were [[Sridhar Rangayan]]’s National Award-winning Breaking Free, Chennai-based Sairam Biswas’s It Adhu But Aanaal and also the acclaimed Aligarh. The panel discussion this year was about "Ending Gender and Sexuality-based Violence".<ref name="hindu"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2016/07/chennai-international-queer-film-festival/|title=Chennai’s LGBTQ Film Festival Is Back: Looking At Queerness, Sex-Work And More!|date=29 July 2016|accessdate=22 July 2017}}</ref>

==2015==
Reel Desires: Chennai International Queer Film Festival 2015, will be held from 24 to 26 July at the [[Goethe-Institut]] / Max Mueller Bhavan in Chennai. The festival will screen 23 films from eight countries, out of which some of the significant ones are [[Pride (2014 film)|Pride]], the [[2014 Cannes Film Festival]] award winner, Walking the Walk by Moses Tulasi, Aakkamum Thaakkamum (portrayals of transgender women in Tamil Cinema) and more.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://silverscreen.in/tamil/events/lgbt-film-festival-on-july-24-26-in-chennai/|title=LGBT Film Festival On July 24–26 In Chennai|date=22 Jul 2015|accessdate=22 Jul 2017}}</ref><ref name="Preeti Zachariah"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.deccanchronicle.com/150727/nation-current-affairs/article/queer-film-festival-comes-chennai|title=Queer film festival comes to Chennai|author=RAHUL SADHU|accessdate=22 Jul 2017|date=27 Jul 2015}}</ref>

==2014==
In 2014, the festival also hosted a photography exhibition by Shilpa Raj, a Bengaluru-based photographer, and social activist. Her exhibits were transgender people posing in diverse avatars, charting the transition from male to female in 14 stills. There were also photos that establish references to Ramayana and Mahabharata.
Some of the noteworthy movies screened were Kyunki, an Indian Submission, Eyes that do not see, from USA, [[Kumu Hina]], a Hawaiian movie and Not funny from Germany.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/2014/jul/26/Bringing-out-the-%E2%80%98Reel%E2%80%99-desires-640229.html|title=Bringing out the ‘Reel’ desires|publisher=New Indian Express|accessdate=22 Jul 2017|date=26 Jul 2014}}</ref>

==2013==
2013 the organizers received around ninety one films from 22 countries, out of which 35 films including shorts, documentaries, and feature films were screened. These were from India and over 10 countries.
The three-day event was from 11 to 13 July 2013 and some movies screened were Gay_Lonely, about a 30-plus gay man, Kuch Palon Mein, Veena Kulkarni’s ‘Reminiscene of Ether’, [[Debalina Majumder]]’s ‘Ebang Bewarish (And the Unclaimed)’ among others.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://whatshot.in/chennai/reel-desires-queer-film-festival-e-355774|title=Reel Desires- Queer Film Festival}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thehindu.com/features/cinema/nothing-queer-about-it/article4897994.ece|title=Nothing queer about it!|publisher=The Hindu|accessdate=22 Jul 2017|date=9 Jul 2013|author=BARADWAJ RANGAN}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of LGBT film festivals]]
*[[Tamil sexual minorities|Tamil Sexual Minorities]]

== External links ==
* [http://www.ciqff.org/ Official Website]
* [http://www.orinam.net/ Orinam]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{LGBT in India}}
{{Life in India}}
{{Asia topic|LGBT rights in}}

[[Category:LGBT film festivals in India]]
[[Category:LGBT culture in Chennai]]

Chennai International Queer Film Festival - Revision history

>Bearcat at 01:17, 8 April 2021