Mumbai just got a whole lot more fabulous this June as 16th edition of The Kashish Pride Film Festival 2025 kicked off with a bang, lighting up three venues and screening 152 films from 48 countries. Over the years the festival has solidified its position as South Asia and India’s largest LGBTQ+ film festival.
A Star-Studded Opening Night
The star-studded red carpet at St. Andrews Auditorium in the suburbs of Bandra where the opening night was held was pure magic. Icons like Guneet Monga, Vikramaditya Motwane, and Onir joined festival director Sridhar Rangayan to celebrate bold queer stories and honor legends like Shyam Benegal. The evening was also attended by the KASHISH Advisory board members filmmaker & editor Arunaraje Patil, Whistling Woods president Meghna Ghai Puri, actress Renuka Shahane, producer & academician Viveck Vaswani.
The spectacular opening night was hosted by eminent radio personality RJ Rohini Ramnathan and Renil Abraham.
Festival director Sridhar Rangayan emphasized the importance of creating a safe space for queer stories to be seen and heard, highlighting cinema's power to open minds and hearts.
Tribute to a Legend
The evening paid tribute to veteran filmmaker Shyam Benegal, with acclaimed actors Rajeshwari Sachdev and Rajit Kapur sharing memories of their iconic film "Sooraj Ka Saatvan Ghoda."
The highlights of the evening were electrifying performances by Sushant Divgikar and special Bharatanatyam dance by Nalanda Kendra students.
The festival also screened Benegal's iconic film "Mandi" (1983) which was attended by cast Ila Arun and Soni Razdan.
A Diverse Range of Films
The festival showcased 32 feature-length narrative and documentary films from around the world frpm place like Iceland, Peru, Serbia, Uzbekistan, Nigeria and Palestine. There were 20 World Premieres and 50 Asian Premieres. Indian films, such as Onir's "We Are Faheem & Karun" and Abhijit’s documentary "I Am Revathi," were also highlighted.
Thought-Provoking Panel Discussions
The festival featured panel discussions on topics like "Indian Trans Actors to the Front, Please" and "Portrayals with Pride: LGBTQ+ depictions in mainstream pop-culture," providing a platform for industry professionals like Satya Rai Nagpaul, Rajshri Deshpande, Onir among others to share their insights and experiences.
A Grand Closing Ceremony
The closing ceremony was hosted by actor Sid Makkar along with Seduqtress Soniqa aka Aaron D’ Souza. The finale evening also featured a dance performance by The House of Sway, a musical performance by Bombay Noor, and the launch of the trailer for the documentary series "In-Transit" on Amazon Prime.
The Kashish Pride Film Festival 2025 was a resounding success, housefull shows celebrating queer stories, cinematic excellence, and the power of cinema to bring about change.
And the winners are:
Category | Film name | Winner |
KASHISH QDRISHTI FILM GRANT | Make-up room (India) | Shubam Negi (writer) |
BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE | ODD FISH | Snaevar Solvason (Director) |
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE | WARM FILM (Topli Film) (Serbia) | Dragan Jovićević (Director) |
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT | B AND S (India) | Lipika Singh Darai (Director) |
BEST INTERNATIONAL NARRATIVE SHORT | VIOLETS (Violetas) (Spain) | Borja Escribano (Director) |
BEST INDIAN NARRATIVE SHORT | JASMINE THAT BLOOMS IN AUTUMN (India) | Chandradeep Das (Director) |
BEST PERFORMANCE IN A LEAD ROLE | ODD FISH | ARNA MAGNEA DANKS |
BEST SCREENPLAY | Baby | GABRIEL DOMINGUES AND MARCELO CAETANO (Brazil) |
BEST STUDENT SHORT AWARD | TWO TRAVELLING AUNTIES (Columbia, UK) | Christine Seow |
RIYAD WADIA AWARD FOR BEST EMERGING INDIAN FILMMAKER | Jalsa (India) | SAIKAT MONDAL |
ISMAT CHUGHTAI AWARD FOR BEST WOMAN FILMMAKER OF INDIAN ORIGIN | Project Priyo Witch of Vihar Lake | Shoi Joey Kaushik |
ADITYA NANDA AWARD FOR BEST FILM ON QUEER MENTAL HEALTH | AFTER ALL (UK, France, Germany) | Chongyan Liu |
RUNNERS-UP FOR KASHISH QDRISHTI FILM GRANT | US GIRLS OPERATION: GULZAR | Rayyan Monkey (She/They) (Writer) Varsha Panikar (They/He) (Writer) |
BEST PERFORMANCE IN A LEAD ROLE | Baby | JOAO PEDRO MARIANO |
BEST SCREENPLAY (FEATURE FILM) | ODD FISH | SNAEVAR SOLVASON |
BEST SCREENPLAY (SHORT FILM) | SOLE | ANA BERDEJA |
Share this post