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Price of Home (82 mins)

Two films of different genres, a documentary and a narrative short, deal with the costs that are extracted from Queer and South Asian people in their homelands- both the one that they are from and the one that they seek as refuge.

 

Dangerous Living: Coming Out in the Developing World (Dir. John Scagliotti/USA 2003/ 70 min)
Narrated by Janeane Garofalo, Dangerous Living examines the struggles and triumphs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in the Global South. While the “Cairo 52” story is the centerpiece of this documentary, it is just one of many examples of GLBT challenges in the developing world. The film travels through five continents to tell the heartbreaking and triumphant stories of incredible queer activists, including interviews of South Asian Queer people and activists from India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Malaysia and places their lives in the context of the entire developing world.

 

Laxmi (Dir. Mandrika Rupa/ New Zealand 2000/ 12 mins)

An Indian diasporic look at what it was to live in colonial New Zealand in 1942 wartime when soldiers from the U.S. were stationed there.  It is a coming of age story of an Indian girl who grapples with why her family prefers to deal with the prejudices of a “free” country to the caste injustices they left behind.

 

 

Queer Filmistan 2003

 

Cinema has played a vital role in shaping queer identity in South Asia and the South Asian Diaspora. Queer Filmistan, the nation’s only queer South Asian international film festival, showcases film and video works by, for, about, or of interest to South Asian queer communities. It is devoted to exploring the diverse realities, deep complexities, joys and sorrows that make up the South Asian queer experience.   

Queer Filmistan is a labor of love of Trikone, a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people of South Asian descent. Founded in 1986 in the San Francisco Bay Area, Trikone is the oldest group of its kind in the world.

 

Tickets can be purchased on-line upto 24 hours before each show at www.trikone.org and at the door 45 minutes before each show.

 

Queer Filmistan 2003 has been funded through a significant grant from the Horizons Foundation.

 

 

OUTright Rewrite! (60 mins)

An insightful collection of interviews about emerging South Asian queer community in the US as it brings on the sexual revolution.  These powerful testimonials document the process of rewriting possibilities while exploring the impact that coming out has on transforming ourselves, our families and societies.

 

The Beginnings- South Asian Queer Activism in the US (15 mins)

This clip documents the historical moment of an emerging Queer South Asian movement in the late 80s, featuring interviews with Trikone pioneers Arvind and Ashok.

 

Rewriting the Script (Dirs. Leela Acharya, Amina Ally, Farzana Doctor, Anjula Gogia, Zeenat Janmohamed, Nasreen Khan, Deena Ladd, Anuja Mendiratta, Arif Noorani/ Canda 2001/ 46 mins)

This must-see film features frank discussions with parents, siblings and extended family members of South Asian gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people. They share poignant testimonies about their coming out experience and how their families transformed themselves to include their queer children, changing the larger South Asian community in the process.

 

Queer Filmistan 2003

Cinema has played a vital role in shaping queer identity in South Asia and the South Asian Diaspora. Queer Filmistan, the nation’s only queer South Asian international film festival, showcases film and video works by, for, about, or of interest to South Asian queer communities. It is devoted to exploring the diverse realities, deep complexities, joys and sorrows that make up the South Asian queer experience.   

Queer Filmistan is a labor of love of Trikone, a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people of South Asian descent. Founded in 1986 in the San Francisco Bay Area, Trikone is the oldest group of its kind in the world.

 

Tickets can be purchased on-line upto 24 hours before each show at www.trikone.org and at the door 45 minutes before each show.

 

Queer Filmistan 2003 has been funded through a significant grant from the Horizons Foundation.

 

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Behind the Wheel (60 mins)

Two films, a music video and a documentary, are based on the true-life stories of two women who buck tradition to live unconventional lives as they cross gender lines and drive trucks to bring home the stuff that feminist and lesbian fables are made of.

 

Mann ke Manjeeré (Dir. Sujit Sarkar/India 2001/5:10 mins)

Winner of the Screen Awards 2001 in India and nominated for the MTV Awards for best Indipop music video category, Mann ke Manjeeré is the exuberant journey of a woman who leaves an abusive marriage and becomes a truck driver. Produced by Breakthrough, a feminist human rights organization that uses popular culture to promote social justice, the video raises important issues violence against women, women in non-traditional occupations and women’s access to public space.

 

Miss Manju Truck Driver (Manjuben Truck Driver) (Dir. Sherna Dastur/India 2002/52 min)

Miss Manju is a truck driver who defies gender stereotypes. She describes herself as half Shiva, half Shakti (man/woman) who ‘doesn’t need anybody else’s power’. This betel nut chewing, cross-dressing business woman, hangs out with the boys and comes home to a girlfriend and a family who call her ‘big Daddy’. You may say that ‘butch dyke’ is this woman’s middle name, but hold off on the labels. This beautifully shot observational documentary, filled with close-ups of busy Indian roads and night cafes, has been structured as a poetic story of an original trailblazer as well as the social landscape surrounding her.

 

Queer Filmistan 2003

 

Cinema has played a vital role in shaping queer identity in South Asia and the South Asian Diaspora. Queer Filmistan, the nation’s only queer South Asian international film festival, showcases film and video works by, for, about, or of interest to South Asian queer communities. It is devoted to exploring the diverse realities, deep complexities, joys and sorrows that make up the South Asian queer experience.   

Queer Filmistan is a labor of love of Trikone, a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people of South Asian descent. Founded in 1986 in the San Francisco Bay Area, Trikone is the oldest group of its kind in the world.

 

Tickets can be purchased on-line upto 24 hours before each show at www.trikone.org and at the door 45 minutes before each show.

 

Queer Filmistan 2003 has been funded through a significant grant from the Horizons Foundation.