Friday, September 27, 2013

The Bangalore Queer Film Festival 2014 Call for Entries

The 6th Bangalore Queer Film Festival
Call for Entries

Last date for submissions: 15 January 2014

The Bangalore Queer Film Festival is open for submissions for 2014!
 We invite you to send us your short and full-length features, short and long documentaries, animation and experimental films. Please send us your entries and pass this call on to friends, lovers and colleagues who might want to send in theirs.

BQFF 2013 brought us a whole range of some-powerful, some-madcap, some-tear jerking cinematic numbers – a set of highly unusual Indian short films, such as Snarky Baudelaire,Item NumberLonely Walls and Raat Baaki; exceptionally moving documentaries such asHow to Survive a PlagueCall me KuchuIn-between DaysMadame and Lesbian Factory; Cary Cronenwett’s archival re-visioning of the Kronstadt Uprising of 1921 in Maggots and Men;  Ira Sachs’ portrayal of love and addiction in Keep the Lights On as our opening night premiere, the lesbian period drama The Night Watch as our centrepiece and Khavn De La Cruz’s fabulously intriguing Mondomanila as our closing night premiere.

Besides the films, the festival included an exhibition of politically engaging artwork by transgender artist Living Smile Vidya, and activist Sylvia Karpagam, as well as the photographs that were a part of the ManiFest drag photo project. Our performers also kept their yearly promise of packing the hall with a wildly applauding audience.

We hope to be able to bring the same kind of film-viewing experience to our ever-growing audiences this coming year as well.

Please submit your films for preview. The final schedule of films will be selected in the second week of February 2014.  (See contact details below to ask for submission forms.) Please note the following suggestions:

Films
We accept films made by directors on themes related to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and other queer populations. Films that challenge traditional gender and sex / sexuality notions are welcome.

Genres
Please submit films of any form: Features, Shorts, Documentaries, Animation or Experimental.

Preview copies
Submit preview copies of full films online (through vimeo, youtube etc. or by sending the full film via Dropbox or similar file transfers) or by sending us the DVD copies to our address. Preview copies submitted for selection will not be returned. Copies of all films will be kept with the BQFF Archives.

Format of Final Submission
Final submissions are expected on high-quality DVDs only. Contact the organisers if you require more information or want to use other formats.

Subtitles
Since accents vary even among English language films, all films should preferably have subtitles in English.

Submission/mailing costs
Mailing costs for the submissions have to be borne by the director/producer/distributor. The BQFF cannot, at this juncture, support the costs of receiving copies for preview. Please contact the organisers if you are unable to bear these costs so as to arrange for alternative ways to send your films to us.

Screening Costs
As always the BQFF is a FREE event and no charges are levied on submissions. Additionally, only films that do not charge screening fees will be accepted.

Submission Address
All preview copies should be sent to the following address.
Please write “BQFF 2014” on the cover of your submission.
SWABHAVA
4th Floor, M. S. Plaza
No. 1, 13th ‘A’ Cross
4th Main, Sampangiramnagar
Bangalore – 560 027
Karnataka, India
Phone: +91-80-22230959
Mobile: +91-9844181294

Decision making process
The festival organising committee and the BQFF Preview Committee will preview all films submitted. Directors or producers or the distributors will be contacted immediately on selection of their films and any additional requests for material or publicity may be made at the time. More information about selection of films will be made available soon. Films that have not been selected will be informed separately.

Contact BQFF
For any queries regarding the festival, submission, or any other matter please contact:
Email:             blrqueerfilmfest@gmail.com
Web:               http://blrqueerfilmfest.com
Phone:            +91-80-22230959 (Office) or +91-9844181294 (mobile)


Organisations involved
The Bangalore Queer Film Festival is organised by Good As You (GAY), SWABHAVA Trust, We’re Here and Queer (WHAQ!) and Pirat Dykes. GAY (www.goodasyou.in) is a support group (est. 1994) for LGBT people in Bangalore and is one of the oldest support groups in India. SWABHAVA Trust (est. 1999) is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation working with LGBT issues, including providing access to support services in Bangalore. Both GAY and Swabhava have co-hosted previous queer film festivals in Bangalore. We’re Here and Queer (WHAQ!), is a queer women’s support group (estd. 2009). GAY and WHAQ! regularly organise film screenings at their weekly meetings. Pirat Dykes is a group set up to screen films that do not generally get mainstream releases in India. All the groups are non-funded and depend on community donations to function.


Wednesday, September 25, 2013

QRadio with Radiowallah.in: Mari Eva, Romal Singh and more.

Long story short, since it's late and I am lazy: Radiowallah is an internet radio station, and it has several channels. The one we're interested in is QRadio.



QRadio, India's first radio channel, is a space that celebrates your gender indentity (Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transgender, Gender queers, Allies and the Heterosexuals to) through shows where you can talk about the serious (society, acceptance, parents, rules, laws, policies, abuse) and the fun stuff (dating, sex, fashion, food). 


One of the shows is run by Romal Singh:


Another one starts tomorrow, hosted by WhaQ's founder and general lovely, Mari Eva.



QRadio is launching a brand new show all about Queer women starting TOMORROW!!!  Would be great if you all call in and give me support: I'm gonna host it!  We all know this is just about the perfect job for me, like, in EVER. ;)
It'll be from 12-2pm Thursdays and Saturdays. I'd love to have you on as guests on the show talking about everything that is feminine, queer, trans, les and bi as a woman in India today...we can be anonymous if you want, but we really want to hear from you! 
So please do call in and say hello on air! The number to call is 080 415 28 333. I'd LOVE to hear from you!
Mari's first guest will be Antara Pal, a Bangalore/Hyderabad DJ and general awesome person. Tune in tomorrow at twelve!