CSB Promotion - My Son Is Gay

When Lokesh Kumar attended the Indian LGBT film festivals, he found that there were not many Indian movies made on alternate sexualites. Being an ardent film buff, he had always wanted to be part of cinema. But without proper contacts and knowledge and finance, he found it difficult to move forward. Even then, he felt it was important to portray this subject and made his first movie about the acceptance of a guy’s homosexuality by his elder brother. Now a few short films later, Lokesh has emerged himself as an independent filmmaker, who wants to highlight the social issues that move him through his films. ‘My Son Is Gay’ is his very first venture in incarnating that intention.

The Writer and Director of 'My Son Is Gay,' Lokesh Kumar

The movie ‘My Son Is Gay,’ tries to portray the emotional journey of an Indian mother when her son comes out to her as homosexual. It also deals with what the gay son goes through being in a society which denies him the identity, acceptance, love and affection. Emphasizing the relevance of his movie, Lokesh points out, “I see that the LGBT community is facing lot of rejections by the society. Though it is not a much talked about topic in our country, it is happening a lot secretly – within our hearts, within our minds. This movie hopes to foster the acceptance of LGBT children and understand their emotions.”

The two main characters – the son and the mother – are played by actors Nakshatra Bagwe and Anupama Kumar respectively.

A scene from the movie, 'My Son Is Gay'

Nakshatra has been involved in films on queer themes since his debut movie and this will be his eighth film based on homosexuality. Being an openly gay man, he is well aware of the stereotypes that get propagated vis-à-vis the actual reality. For Nakshatra, this was a dream come true project when Lokesh approached him for the role. “When I watched ‘Prayers for Bobby,’ I had wished for movies on similar theme to be made in India. It is important for all of us to make our voices heard in the mainstream and I want to portray us in a positive realistic manner,” he asserts.

Anupama has been dabbling with theatre since she was 5 and she claims to be the designated family entertainer. A few hundred ad films later, Anupama now feels that she has reached where she wanted to be, doing the kind of cinema she had always wanted to be involved in. “I have many gay friends and like everyone else, they also are victims of this prejudice. When we were shooting the ‘coming out’ scene, Nakshatra broke down as it was very close to his heart. That insight made us all realize how real this issue is.”

When Lokesh came up with this project, there were people who questioned his choice of selecting a gay-themed subject and he had to make them realize its importance. “I’m good at pitching my project and no one can influence me on the topic I choose to film. Initially some technicians and actors had the reservation that it might brand them as LGBT. But once we found the right people who see cinema as an art, we focused on making the film and the theme became irrelevant.” Even then the challenges to make this movie are not eased. “In indie film making, every day is a challenge. And for a theme like this, the challenges give a multiplier effect when it comes to funding, promotions, sourcing the right talent, bringing stars to make the project mainstream, managing social media and so on,” Lokesh explains.

The movie is currently under production and the makers are hopeful to complete the film through crowd-funding. 25 percent of the movie has been completed and the team has come out with a trailer-cum-pitch video to encourage contribution from the public. "It’s now purely in the audience’s hands. We wish to complete the movie at the earliest, hope the people will open up their hearts and contribute to the project. Do support us and we will give a great movie which India has never seen before, a movie which is crucial for our country,” Lokesh stresses.

The trailer cum pitch video of 'My Son Is Gay'

The contributions to the movie (as low as INR 100 or $1) can be done at http://fundmydream.in/campaigns/my-son-is-gay

Movie Facebook page: 
https://www.facebook.com/MySonisGayTheMovie

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CSB Promotion - Pandora's Box
CSB Promotion - Chennai Rainbow Film Festival 2013
CSB Promotion - KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival 2013

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CSB Promotion - Pandora's Box

It’s not that often we get to see plays touching upon gay theme. But a group of young budding amateur artists will be showcasing their latest play - ‘Pandora’s Box’, this Saturday in Mumbai, which aims to present the universal theme of love from a queer perspective. This young team calls themselves Metamorphosis to express art in different forms but with a meaning and perspective, and to deconstruct the stereotypes and norms. Pandora’s Box is the team’s second outing after the success of their debut play - Quest, which had run to packed audience.

The plot of Pandora’s Box revolves around the randomness of life and exploring different forms of love – the one that is innocent, the one that is a fairy tale, the one that has a thought behind, the one that vacillates between friendship and commitment, and the one that results out of loneliness and seclusion. The protagonist spends a particular night contemplating and reminiscing about the days long gone by. And as he looks back into his past, the letters, calendars, pictures and posters all come to life making him recall the good and the bad.

Omkar Bhatkar who has written, directed and also acted in Pandora’s Box feels that he is taking a risk by venturing into a topic that could be palatable to only a few. He says, “To even think of writing Pandora’s Box was very challenging. Already the audience who watches theatre plays is niche and then you write a play from a queer perspective. So how many would really like to invest that kind of time, effort and money to watch such plays? But I believe it’s an important story that needs to be told even if there are only few people willing to witness it.”

The team staged a raw version of Pandora’s Box at auditions for Thespo, an annual youth theatre festival and they were pleasantly surprised to see that it had moved several members of the audience to tears. Judging from the reviews received, the cast and crew realized that this play was meant for everyone. “Eventually it’s a universal theme of love. It can be presented from a queer perspective, but also can be easily identified from any perspective,” Omkar opines.

The team Metamorphosis comprises of medical students, engineers, architects, models as well as theatre actors. But what brings these people of different occupations and backgrounds is their passion for acting and theatre.

Pandora’s Box will be staged this Saturday, November 30th at Temperence, Next to Rizvi College of Hotel Management, Bandra West, Mumbai. 

The play performance is restricted to an adult audience. 

For Tickets: 
The tickets are priced at Rs. 200/- for 6:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. show.
You can call 09833587470, 09821173756, 09930936865 for tickets.

Tickets can also be collected from the venue till Friday between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.

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CSB Promotion - Chennai Rainbow Festival 2013
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CSB Promotion - Chennai Rainbow Film Festival 2013

Chennai Rainbow Film Festival 2013 Poster

It is inspiriting to see that like gay parades, we are beginning to witness the trend of each city hosting their version of queer film fests. This year, Bangalore hosted theirs in February, Mumbai in May and now Chennai will be buzzing with the Chennai Rainbow Film Festival 2013 from June 7th till June 9th at Alliance Francaise of Madras, Nungambakkam. 

Vikrant Prasanna, Founder of Chennai Dost

The film festival is organized by Chennai Dost - a major support group for Gay, Bisexual men and women in Chennai along with Alliance Francaise of Madras. “We came up with this initiative to provide a venue for screening the works of established and emerging film makers who portray our community in a positive and affirmative light,” says Vikrant Prasanna, Founder of Chennai Dost. “Many of these films may not otherwise see distribution in area theatres.”

Apart from film screenings, the festival will see LGBT themed Photo/Art Exhibition, panel discussion, cultural performance and award ceremonies.

The Chennai Rainbow Film Festival aims to counter issues of invisibility and misinformation by providing a forum for discussing the films in a social and political context. On June 8th, a panel discussion has been planned to discuss about the media portrayal of LGBT community which will see panellists from film, theatre, television and literature fields. On the same day, the organizers will be honouring the media, film and art fraternity with ‘Rainbow Ambassador’ awards. The eminent Director, Film Maker and Cinematographer, Balu Mahendra will be presenting the awards to personalities who have supported and contributed in bringing out the issues and challenges faced by the Indian LGBT community. 

Apsara Reddy, Senior Editor of Deccan Chronicle (right) launches 

the logo of Chennai Rainbow Film Festival 2013 on April 14th

This year more than 100 entries were received and close to 30 films and documentaries have been shortlisted for screening. On the final day, awards will be presented to the best short films/documentaries in Tamil, India and International categories. 

Narthagi, a Tamil feature film showcasing the journey of an adolescent boy who transforms into a transgender and the trauma he goes through in the process of discovering himself, has been chosen as the closing film of the festival. Explaining the rationale behind the selection, Prasanna says, “Narthagi is the first feature length film in Tamil on issues faced by transgenders and it was released in 2011 after several barriers. We wish to pay our respect for the effort put by the team of Narthagi in bringing the movie onto the silver screen and also encourage more such films to be produced in Tamil.” 

A still from 'Narthagi'

The Chennai Rainbow Film Festival also marks CSB’s very first official partnership with an LGBT event. For complete schedule of the festival click here. Entry is free and open for all.

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CSB Promotion - KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival 2013

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CSB Promotion - KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival 2013

KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival 2013 Poster

It’s been only 4 years since Sridhar Rangayan, the director of LGBT themed films – ‘The Pink Mirror’ and ‘Yours Emotionally’, has started organizing KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival. But it has already transformed into an important annual event in Mumbai’s cultural calendar. Not just Mumbaikars, the festival receives audience from other cities as well. People like Manas Modi, a Bangalore resident, will be traveling to Mumbai this week to attend the festival. “I will be reaching Mumbai on Friday evening so that I can at least catch the films screened on Saturday and Sunday.”

This sort of euphoria is heartening to see since it signifies the willingness of the people to invest time and effort for LGBT events in India, and also the fact that such events are earning as much visibility and importance as any other mainstream event. Sridhar reveals that a sizable population of straight folks also attend the festival. “Last year, almost 32 percent of the attendees were non-LGBT, comprising of students, film buffs and academicians.“ And there is a valid factor which is making this possible. Sridhar explains, “KASHISH is the first and only LGBT film festival in India to be held in a mainstream theatre and one of the first queer festivals to receive clearance from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. This is enabling us to reach out to large number of audience.”

Sridhar Rangayan, Festival Director of KASHISH Film Festival

For this year’s edition, the organizers have received a whooping 300 submissions; out of which, 132 films from 40 countries are selected for screening. They were also pleasantly surprised to see submissions coming from conservative countries such as Iran, Pakistan, Serbia and Israel. Each year KASHISH honours one country to appreciate and acknowledge efforts made by other countries producing qualitative queer cinema. This year, the focus will be on China where LGBT movies from China will be featured in the ‘Country Focus’ package. Sridhar opines, “Mainstream cinema from China has already made its mark, but a small group of filmmakers are making films on queer themes. These films are often made underground and with great ingenuity. Our efforts at KASHISH this year is to showcase these films and the brave filmmakers.”

Movies from China will be featured in the ‘Country Focus’ package

Since its debut in 2010, KASHISH has become one of the biggest LGBT film festivals in India and South Asia, helping people to open their minds by challenging their beliefs and notions. Sridhar Rangayan understands that as each edition comes by, the benchmark for bringing awareness and entertainment keeps getting higher. “KASHISH is no more just a film festival, but an annual cultural experience, and we hope to live up to it!”

 

KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival is scheduled to be held on May 22-26, 2013 at Cinemax Versova in Andheri West and at Alliance Francaise de Bombay, Theosophy Hall, 40 New Marine Lines - Churchgate from May 23-25, 2013.

For complete schedule of the festival, click here.

To check out the ten not to be missed films of KASHISH 2013, click here.
For information on the films featured in 'Country Focus', click here

For complete list on insightful discussions and conversations apart from the film screenings, click here.

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CSB Promotion: Queer Ink Offer For CSB Readers!

Queer Ink (http://queer-ink.com) is an online book store providing access to hundreds of books on gays, lesbians, hijras and transsexuals. Founded by Shobhna Kumar and her partner in 2010, this portal has become the one stop site for anyone seeking LGBTIQ literature. 

In an interview for CSB Anniversary magazine, Shobhna had said, “We believe that there are vibrant communities of sexually and gender diverse people who successfully negotiate their lives in the mainstream. These stories need to be told and heard to dispel ignorance and therefore hatred and discrimination.” 

Queer Ink has now more than 500 titles in the English and Indian regional languages covering fiction and non-fiction with genres - drama, folklore, historical fiction, humour, mystery, poetry, auto/biographies and collection of short stories, mythology, etc. The E-books section has free downloads of magazines, reports and journals with LGBTI India content. Shobhna reveals that they also receive enquiries for gay erotica. “Yes, we can obtain it for you but we cannot list it on the website because of the IT Act 2000 which restricts online sales of such material.” 

CSB readers can now get 40% discount for the purchase of imported books, above spend of Rs.300. 

Just the enter the coupon code: CrazySam40 while you are making the purchase. 

This offer is valid until March 31, 2013. 

Happy shopping and happy reading!!

Model: Julián Escamilla

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CSB Promotion: Dan Skinner's Photography

When Dan Skinner sent me an email saying I can feel free to use his photos for my blog, I was like.. Wow! Seriously? And then when I checked out his galleries, I knew his amazing talent deserves more than just few photos being displayed on my posts.

The US readers probably don't need an introduction about this (surprisingly) camera-shy guy. Dan has been in the cover art business for almost eight years. He has worked for over 400 companies internationally and has probably (coz he doesn't keep count) done two thousand covers. He has done every type of book genres and has worked in print, magazine, ebook and ezine. So there is a good chance that you might have come across his masterpieces at some point or the other.

The fashion industry came to know about Dan Skinner this year and he is now busy involved in doing projects for this venue. He told me that he discover and shoot his own models and tries to do one frame storyboard shots or tell a story through them.

The DNA Magazine recently bought pics of one of his models, Dave Wilkinson and will be featuring them on their next edition. Also, DNA's blog will be showcasing four pieces from Dan's "Study Break" series. And the latest edition of the online magazine, Blake did a five page feature on his "End Of Summer."

Dan Skinner claims that he is a self taught photographer and a pro at photoshopping. It's a no-brainer that this guy is a hardcore workaholic and a crazy perfectionist. He has his own studio called Cerberus Inc. based in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA, which he formed with his business partner and former model, Nick Fichter. I was absolutely delighted to know that he belongs to that rare category of photographers who wouldn't suggest the guys to shave off their chest hair for the shoot. As you can see from the pics below, Dan presents Nick in his all raw sexy hirsuteness! Woof!! :P

By the way, you can click on the photos to view their high resolution versions and you could be very well surprised by what some of them reveal! :D

Dan is a twitterholic as well and you guys can catch him at @cerberusinc. To see more of his work, visit his gallery.

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CSB Promotion: Onir's Abhimanyu

In India, one out of every five girls and one out of every ten boys face some form of abuse.

When you hear such statistics, you wonder about the people whom you have come across in life – were they too one among these victims? And isn’t it possible that a child is being abused right now? Yes, at this moment, when you are reading this!

The only solution I see for preventing such exploitation from happening is to help the children to help themselves. Parents should tell their children when they are as young as 5 years old, that they should be informed when an uncle or aunt tries or suggests to do something inappropriate with them. The young ones may not understand what and why it is being told time after time, but then it will cause a spark in them the moment that ugly face gets unveiled. And when they come running to you into your arms, it is your responsibility to believe them, stand by them, and disconnect the other person entirely from your life. That other person could be your sibling, your best friend, your neighbour, your driver, your domestic help, your priest - anyone whom you thought your child would be safe to be with. Because there is nothing more wrong that could happen in your world when your child’s innocence is being taken advantage of.

Abhimanyu is the story of a child abuse survivor inspired by the true story of Harish Iyer and his struggle to reclaim his own shattered identity after 11 long years of abuse.

Email subscribers will have to visit the blog site to watch the following video.

Director Onir Anirban (My Brother Nikhil, Bas Ek Pal and Sorry Bhai) and Anticlock Films wish to tackle important issues ignored by the mainstream Indian cinema and expects your (monetary contributions or otherwise) support to realize this goal.

Abhimanyu is one of the five short films that Onir is writing and directing. Omar will be a film that portrays the nexus between the police and male sex workers to harass gay men using article 377. Afia will tell the story of a girl working in an NGO discovering the misappropriation of funds and her entire life changes as she realizes how everyone is involved. In Megha, we will see a Kashmiri Pandit woman going back to Kashmir after 20 years and confronting her past – a past of losing trust and faith in humanity, a past that saw three lakh Kashmiri Hindus leaving Kashmir. Set In Kolkatta, Rudra will explore the Maoist conflict of ideology between a father and son.

"These topics are too important to let slide into the shadows," says Onir. For Anticlock Films, this is a movement towards cinema that has content and that entertains by way of enriching oneself.

To contribute money and read the deal, please visit the blogs of the respective films:

Abhimanyu - http://iamabhimanyu.blogspot.com/ [Facebook]
Omar - http://omarthefilm.blogspot.com/ [Facebook]
Afia - http://iamafia.blogspot.com/ [Facebook]
Megha - http://iammegha.blogspot.com/ *Under Construction*
Rudra - http://rudrathefilm.blogspot.com/ *Under Construction*

Each film lasting 20 minutes will be released for educational/awareness/festival purposes and eventually all the five short films will be compiled into one release for the general audience.

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