| www.passportmagazine.com New York's Indian Film Festival to Discuss Gay and Lesbian Issues October 27, 2009 |
 This year's the Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council (MIAAC), New York's Indian Film Festival. The festival will run from November 11-15 and this year's program will include panels and films that turn attention to the shifting ideas and themes surrounding gay and lesbian culture in Indian and Diaspora film. MIAAC Film Festival will hold two panels with NYU focusing on the representation of gay issues in India Cinema. The panels will be Queer Bollywood and Queer Presence and Activism on the Independent Screen. Panel chairs will include Professor Richard Allen, Gayatri Gopinath, and Sabrina Dhawan from NYU and Princeton University's Dayton-Stockton Professor of History Gyan Prakash. The panel speakers will show how queerness in Indian cinema has changed over the past decade. Since the Delhi High Court has decriminalized gay relationships, there will also be discussion on how artists are portraying gays and lesbians during these changing times. The program will also include films touching on gay themes including Deepti Naval's Two Paise for Sunshine, Four Annas for Rain about a struggling gay lyricist, an aging prostitute, and her 12-year-old son, and the unlikely Mumbai household's search for happiness. To find out more information about the events above, as well as a full schedule of events visit the official site. |