BQFF is an annual event that carefully selects queer films from all over the world and brings them to an ever-growing Bangalore audience. The festival will serve as an important platform for screening new Indian and South Indian movies. Bangalore has hosted film festivals on themes related to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT or Queer) communities since 2003.
More than just a film festival, we are a hub of queer arts and culture with an art exhibitions, photo exhibitions and performances. In the last seven years, BQFF has grown exponentially—we are now an entrenched fixture in Bangalore’s yearly cultural calendar. Our films try to push boundaries of understanding and we rigourously explore the mental, emotional and physical lives of those who stand outside the sexual norm.
The festival caters to a large Bangalore public interested in exciting films from several countries across the world. The festival is committed to the circulation of good queer cinema, including films from non-Western locations, films by independent filmmakers, popular cinema that experiments with LGBT themes, and experimental films that push aesthetic limits.
BQFF also includes efforts to support other kinds of work: queer cultural performances, photo exhibitions, art exhibitions and book launches have all been a part of the festival’s history. BQFF 2016 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, nongovernmental organisation working with LGBT issues, including providing access to support services in Bangalore (www.swabhava.org). We’re Here and Queer (WHAQ!), a queer women’s support group (estd. 2009) is also a co-organiser. These groups are non-funded and operate entirely on donations. Pirat Dykes is a group set up to screen films that do not generally get mainstream releases in India.