Rainbow Lit Fest to celebrate inclusivity, gender identity

New Delhi, Nov 30 (PTI) Discussions, performances, and cultural exchange around the themes of love, gender identity, and inclusivity will take the centre stage at the upcoming Rainbow Lit Fest here.

Starting from December 7 at Gulmohar Park Club, the 'Queer and Inclusivity' festival will feature more than 80 national and international voices, performers, filmmakers and musicians to discuss issues around identity, gender, sexuality, feminism, desire, equality, cinema, mental health, public policy, power constructs and laws.

Organised by Dwijen Dinanath Arts Foundation, a Delhi-based not-for-profit organisation, the two-day event will feature 44 sessions across dual stages, delivering over 27 hours of discussions, performances, and cultural programmes with a line of speakers and performers hailing from Imphal in the Indian northeastern state of Manipur to Vancouver in Canada.

Among the participant in the festival are filmmaker Hansal Mehta, Carnatic vocalist T M Krishna, gay lawyer and author Saurabh Kirpal, actor Bonita Rajpurohit, podcaster couple Yogi & Kabeer, hotelier Keshav Puri, and writer-filmmaker Paromita Vohra.

The festival will open with a spotlight talk titled "The Quiet Rebellion" with "Aligarh" director Mehta. Krishna will speak about "The Power Hierarchies" on day two.

A key highlight of the Rainbow Lit Fest will be a session exploring the unique perspectives of queer parents, offering a transformative lens on parenting.

In 'Spotlight On History', discussions will be held with people who lived in a pre-Section 377 era. The series will also see a conversation between Justice S Murlidhar, Anjali Gopalan of Naz Foundation and Eric Chopra of Itihasology on the journey towards the scripting of the 2009 Delhi High Court order that first decriminalised homosexuality.

The festival will also showcase the 'Queer Caravan', a collaborative residency program led by the Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan, the French Institute in India, and The Queer Muslim Project, with support from the German-French Cultural Fund.

This initiative will bring together queer storytellers and artists from France, Germany, and India to amplify underrepresented LGBTQIA+ voices and foster cross-cultural dialogue.

"It is those sheer numbers that have grown from when we started out or even last year, that is indicative of our growth and the want to have such a Festival. What it does is create a good problem where our audience would have to make a choice between the programming happening parallely on two stages," festival director and founder Sharif D Rangnekar said in a statement.

Seven films will also be screened during the festival, including "Holy Curse" and "Sheer Qorma". The directors of both these films, Snigdha Kapoor and Faraz Ansari, will be present at the festival.

Drag artist Krystal Koko, expressionist dancer Patruni Chidananda Sastry, trans-man musician and activist Sarvagya, multi-nation band Bollyjazz, gay stand-up Navin Noronha, musical duo Sagar & Srijan, and dance troupe Footloose led by transwoman lawyer Raghavi will be some of the performers at the festival.

The shortlist for the Rainbow Awards for Literature & Journalism will be announced across four categories of Fiction, Non-Fiction, Op-Ed, and Features. A Lifetime Achievement Award will also be announced at the event.

It will also feature a dedicated space for stalls run by queer people from northeast India. PTI MAH MAH RDS RDS