British Council, in partnership with The Queer Muslim Project, presents the Digital Pride festival, #prideathome, to mark global Pride Month through film, discussions and performances. The festival will be held from June 15 to 28.
Events will include a Bollywood style mujra by UK-based contemporary Kathak dancer Raheem Payne-Mir followed by a discussion (June 15), a talk on ‘Gay Nightlife Culture in India’ by Kareem Khubchandani, Mellon Bridge Assistant Professor of theatre, dance, performance studies and women’s gender and sexuality studies at Tufts University (June 20) and a discussion on LGBTIQ+ Festival practitioners, leaders and artists in India and the UK (June 28).
Under #MoreFilmsForFreedom, which has been commissioned by the British Council, BFI Flare: London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival and BFI NETWORK, audiences can watch three distinctive queer-themed short films by Syrian, Palestinian and South African filmmakers. Each film explores diverse themes including sexuality and conflict, intergenerational gay culture, migration and family ties. The films are Nowhere (June 15 to July 14), The Men Who Speak Gayle (July 15 to August 14) and Let My Body Speak (August 15 to September 14).
In addition, the British Council’s social media channels will also feature queer art initiatives. This includes Almarji, an archive of south Asian queer closet narrative; the Aravani Art Project, a collective movement working to enable the transgender community through visual arts, socially inclusive experiments and magic; the Dalit Queer Project, a collaborative space for Dalit and queer people, and Veer Misra, a queer artiste from Delhi.
The Digital Pride Festival events will be held on British Council India’s Instagram and Facebook pages and #MoreFilmsForFreedom can be watched on the British Council Arts YouTube channel.
