2 minute read
Short Films Package
Celebrating Diversity
Total Duration: 72 min
Presented here are three real-life stories from three Indian states about survival, acceptance and resilience of the LGBTQ+ community members!
*Filmmakers in attendance. Film program will be followed by Q&A.
A PEARL IN
The Ocean
Dir: Vasundhara Jadhav
13 | India | 2022 | Bengali, English, Hindi | World Premiere
Video profile of Tushar Roy, a young, confident gender-fluid person from West Bengal aspiring to be a renowned dancer, particularly as a belly dancer.
AANGAN 'A BLOOMING
Dir: Shiv Priya
SPACE'
In the world of insensitivity and insecurity, a new generation of LGBTQI+ community members especially transgenders is flourishing in the courtyard of their Maai (Mother) or Pushpa maai, a transgender activist and the founder of Nai Bhor organization in the pink city Jaipur.
RAJA BRO
Dir: Sridhar Rangayan
25 min | 2023 | India | Hindi | Marathi | Mumbai Premiere
The film is a sensitive heart-warming story of an Indian transman’s acceptance, by himself and his family. Merlin, born as a girl, felt right from his childhood that he was trapped in the wrong gender. But it took a lot of courage and determination for Merlin to transition to become a transman.
My Partner
118 min | 2022 | USA | English, Hawaiian, Tagalog | Narrative Feature | International Premiere
Edmar, a high-achieving Filipino student, and Pili, a Native Hawaiian student athlete standout, are part of rival groups at Lahainaluna High School. The two sides clash when Edmar’s group is caught overfishing a native species in a restored freshwater stream by Pili’s group. When Edmar and Pili are assigned to work on a project together, they strongly protest, but eventually come to better understand each other’s cultures — the demands and limitations Edmar and his friends face as working-class Filipino immigrants, and the intergenerational cultural erasure and physical dispossession of Hawaii’s native people that Pili and his friends struggle with.
Festivals & Honors:
• Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, USA, 2023
Keli'i Grace is a Director, Cinematographer and Editor. Often dubbed as “Visual Translator” for his innate ability to bring to life the soul of a story, Grace imparts a feeling to each moment in a raw and authentic way. His works reveal his resonant understanding of Hawaiian culture, and he is most proud of the work he has done that shares his culture with those outside the state of Hawai'i. His short films Reverence (2019) and Ala Moana Boys (2021) both premiered at the Hawai'i International Film Festival and screened at several international festivals. My Partner is his debut feature film, which is also the first Hawaiian feature film about gay love.
Liberty
BABY QUEEN*
In Competition
61 min | 2022 | Singapore | English, Malay, Mandarin Chinese | Documentary Feature | Indian Premiere
Baby Queen illuminates the struggles and joys of becoming who you want to be, and what it means to carve out a safe space in a society that is at times cruel to those who are different. Candid and clear-eyed in its portrayal of queer life, the film celebrates radical self-acceptance as a personal yet deeply political act. The film has been screened at renowned festivals worldwide including the 27th Busan International Film Festival in South Korea, the 33rd Singapore International Film Festival, and the Visions du Réel 2023 in Nyon, Switzerland.
*Key cast in attendance. Film program will be followed by Q&A.
Festivals & Honors:
• Festivals & Honors:
• Busan International Film Festival 2022
• Singapore International Film Festival 2022
• Vision du Reel, Switzerland 2023
Yuan Bin Lei is a director, editor and cinematographer and the founder of the 13 Little Pictures film collective. He is known for 03-FLATS (2014), which competed in Busan; and I Dream of Singapore (2019), which premiered at the Berlinale. His fifth feature, Baby Queen, premiered at Busan.
