First Queer Film Festival Kathmandu kicks off

Kathmandu, December 6

The first Queer Film Festival Kathmandu kicked off on Friday at Kathmandu Yalamaya Kendra, Patan. 

The four day long film fesstival will present a collection of 51 feature films, documentary features and short projects including animations. They include projects made the world over, as artists explore diverse aspects of sexuality, sexual identity – choices, bodily autonomy among other issues.

Queer Film Festival Kathmandu is organised by Docskool, a collective of filmmakers working on cinema education and culture promotion since 2008. The festival is part of Docskool’s Women in Cinema initiative which provides small grants and yearlong production accompaniment to women and queer filmmakers at pivotal stages of their career.  

Queer cinema is a genre which emphasis non heterosexual narratives in film unlimited to portrayal of LGBTQIA+ identity alone – however most films focus on personal and collective identity and experience of LGBTQIA+ people. 

Queer film festival Kathmandu has partnered with several distribution firms to present films made after 2023. These include films such as S/he is still Her/E: The official Genesis P-Orridge Documentary on the life of highly influential and controversial transgressive queer artist, performer Genesis P-Orridge. The film was shown at Sheffield, and Tribeca Film festival earlier this year.

Other feature documentaries include If I die, it will be of Joy, which deals with older women exploring sexuality and Warsha, a short film from Lebanon which won the best shorts award at Sundance in 2022.   Majority feature films being shown will have their South Asia premiere at the festival. Films are being shown under 17 packages of short and feature projects. Entry to all screenings are free but required prior registration.  

Queer film festival will open on Friday with Fawzia Mirza’s Queen of my Dreams from Canada about a Pakistani immigrant family and a young girls exploration of her sexuality while coming to terms with her family history and her muslim, Pakistani – immigrant identity.