The Obama administration recently received a lot of criticism after it issued guidelines to schools to allow transgender students to use bathrooms matching their gender identity, irrespective of what’s on their birth certificate.

This global dilemma was highlighted at the Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film festival. With 182 films from 53 countries, including 27 films from India, the event was spread across five days. With 41 films competing for awards like the Best Narrative Feature Film, Best Documentary Short Film, Best International Narrative Short Film, Best Indian Narrative Short Film, the Riyad Wadia Award for Best Emerging Indian Film-maker and the Best Performance in a Lead Role, it was a gala time for film buffs.

The festival was inaugurated by celebrated English actor Sir Ian McKellen (Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit trilogies), more famously known for his work in theatre way back in 1988. Talking at the 7th Kashish Film Festival, which this year had the theme 7 Shades of Love, he said, “It seems to me that India is at a crossroads. You have to decide whether you are going to be stuck in the colonial past or enter the modern world. Whatever our sexuality, whatever our taste, we all must be treated equally. That is the world Nelson Mandela fought for and that is the future, I believe Mahatma Gandhi dreamt of seeing!”

Alisha, a Peshawar-based transgender activist who was shot at, died recently due to delay in treatment. But Pakistan isn’t the only country that holds bias against the transgender community. Even in the US, there is a heated ongoing national debate over transgender rights in schools and public life

His statement actually set the tone for the only LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) film festival held in India, and the biggest one in South Asia. Whatever apprehensions and aversion the general public has about the LGBT community is set aside after one watches Indian films (many of them National and other award-winning films) like Nanu Avanalla, Avalu (I am not He, but She) (Kannada), Daaravtha (Marathi), Manam (Tamil), Walking the Walk (Telugu), Any Other Day (Hindi/Marathi) and international ventures Anjali (Nepali), Beautiful Something,  Daddy, How to Win Checkers (Every time), Two Girls Descending the Stairs, Carol and many others.

The movies screened at KFF were true to what late director-writer Ingmar Bergman had said: “No art passes our conscience in the way film does, and goes directly to our feelings, deep down into the dark rooms of our souls.”  Kashish opened one’s eyes to the life and struggle of the LGBT community, exposing us to their plight, their struggle to be recognised, and being accepted.

The Indian panorama had films like Daaravtha, a film about a transgender child and a young innocent boy who considers himself as a ‘girl trapped in a boy’s body’. He is jeered at school, be it in the playground or the classroom for his girlish behavior, something which touches one immensely. Even in Nanu Avanalla, Avalu (I am not He, but She), a National Film Award winner for Best Actor (Sanchari Vijay) and Best Make-up (Raju, Nagraj), the main protagonist, a transgender, arouses empathy. An autobiographical film of a real-life transgender Vidya, the scene when she is taught by other transgenders the simple art of clapping for which the community is famous, is ever so amusing and serves as an eye-opener about the community which our society alienates.

The foreign documentary Anjali, directed by Mohan Rai, traces the life of Anjali Lama, a transgender from Nepal. Also based on true events, it traces the transformation of a man Nabin into a female fashion model named Anjali. Elaborating on the movie, Rai said in an email, said, “We have not screened the film widely in Nepal or abroad yet. I think the film raised the profile of Anjali further apart from generating awareness on the theme. However, she continues to face discrimination in Nepal. This has been the major roadblock in her modeling career and is regrettable.”

Kashish Film Festival opened one’s eyes to the life and struggle of the LGBT community, exposing us to their plight, their struggle to be recognised, and accepted.

Even in the US, members of the transgender community still continue to struggle for their rights. Film-maker Joseph Graham of Beautiful Something admitted, “The rising awareness of transgender rights is a new and ongoing situation for us in the US, and we are still sorting it out. While the presence of gay characters in mainstream Hollywood fare and the TV networks is a huge stride forward towards visibility and acceptance, films by LGBT film-makers have been relegated to their own ghetto niche, and are looked on unfavourably by most of the mainstream film-making community and audiences.”

Graham, whose previous film, Strapped was based on the same subject, is all set to make another one. His films have been screened at festivals and won awards. “It fills me with great pride to know that both of my films have played (legally or otherwise) in places such as Israel, Russia or even our own biased state of Oklahoma — places where I feel reaching a suppressed audience might make a difference, or at least offer some sense of connection and hope.”

In fact, the panel discussion section on the repeal of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code which criminalises sexual activities “against the order of nature”, panelists feel that the LGBT community needed more visibility and unity. As Chitra Batham of the Indian Youth Congress and one of panel members stated: “We need to lobby. We need more numbers. We need to have meetings and also get them invited to festivals. Only then will their struggle fructify.” Every participating member, audience and the judges agreed with this powerful statement.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, June 5th, 2016