City filmmaker at House of Commons for ‘If’ UK premiere
Times of India | 22 March 2024
Kolkata: City-based film-maker Tathagata Ghosh was at the House of Commons—the lower house of the UK Parliament — on Tuesday evening. He was invited by the British Council as one of the international filmmakers at the 38th BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival that is being held in London now. Ghosh’s ‘If’ is having its world premiere at this ongoing film festival.
Ghosh is overwhelmed by his experience at the House of Commons.“It was enormous in terms of architecture. There was restricted access and so I could only walk through the hallway and enter the room. That is where I had the chance to network with international filmmakers, members of the British Council and prominent organizations like Queer Muslim Project. This discussion was meant to celebrate 10 years of Five Films for Freedom by the British Council,” he added.
The importance of queer cinema and how many across the world cannot come out because of the political scenario of their countries were also discussed.
“It has been more than five years since homosexuality was decriminalized in my country. But little has changed. It was only a few days back that Pranshu, a 16-year-old queer artist, took his own life after being bullied online! It troubles me deeply to see many of my queer friends getting separated from their families after they were disowned by the very people they grew up around. We failed them as a society,” Ghosh said.
‘If’ starring Adrija Majumdar, Shivamrita Chakraborty, Bimal Giri, Paromita Mukherjee and Ranodeep Nandy was born from that deep despair. “Based on people and incidents around me, I wanted to search for love in this darkness, through this film. My film is my cry of anguish in these troubled times. A cry which I hope will be heard and won over by love,” he said.
The 26-minute short film tells the story of a lesbian couple, who are torn apart because of an arranged marriage. It suggests that mother’s love is possible to heal and give them another future. The world premiere of the film will be held on March 22. A second screening is slated on March 23. Both shows have already been sold out.