World AIDS Fortnight screenings of film 68 pages

As part of the World AIDS Fortnight events begining December 1,

film 68 Pages will be screened at several venues across India and US.

All events are FREE and we welcome participation of people from all walks of life.

It is time we change discriminatory attitudes towards gays, transsexuals and HIV positive people.

Come, be part of the change.

 

 

NEW YORK

 

December 1, Monday

3:00 – 5:00 PM & 7:00 – 9:00 PM  : Two screenings

@ La Guardia Community College: Little Theater, LPAC

31-10 Thomson Avenue, Long Island City

Organized by QMAD ( www.qmad.org )

 

NEW DELHI

 

December 1, Monday

6.30 – 9.00 PM

@ Stein Auditorium, Habitat Center,

India Habitat Center, New Delhi

Organized by UNDP & Habitat Center

 

December 5, Friday

4.30 – 7.00 PM

@ Sarai-CSDS, 29 Rajpur Road

Civil Lines, Delhi – 110054

Organized by Sarai ( www.sarai.net )

 

BOMBAY

 

December 8, Monday

6.00 – 9.00 PM

@ Juhu Jagruti Hall, NMIMS,

Vile Parle West, Mumbai

Organized by The Humsafar Trust

** Gulabi Aaina (The Pink Mirror) will also be screened

 

December 12, Friday

6.00 – 8.30 PM

@ Godrej Hall, NCPA

Nariman Point

Organized by Ashok Kumar Foundation & NCPA

 

68 Pages

(2007 / 92 mins / Hindi with Eng subtitles)

 

Film outline

From the director of Gulabi Aaina and Yours Emotionally comes another hard hitting drama about marginalized people. Subverting the Bollywood film genre of song-dance and high drama, this film places characters ignored by Bollywood centerstage – a transsexual bar dancer, a prostitute, a gay couple – to tell their stories of pain and trauma, of happiness and hope, about being HIV+ and marginalized. A searingly honest film about five lives marked by pain and bound by hope – in 68 Pages of a counselor’s diary.

 

Winner of the Silver Remi at WorldFest 2008, Houston, USA

 

Directed by Sridhar Rangayan

Produced by The Humsafar Trust in association with Solaris Pictures

Cast: Moulli Ganguly, Joy Sengupta, Jayati Bhatia, Zafar Karachiwala, Uday Sonawane

 

Links: www.humsafar.org/68pages.htm ; www.imdb.com/title/tt1151299/

 

 

 

Watch award winning film 68 Pages ONLINE FREE

watch award winning film ‘68 Pages’

FREE ONLINE

at the online Humanity Explored Film Festival

www.cultureunplugged.com/play/1443

Don’t forget to RATE, FAVOURITE, COMMENT & TWEET (you have to login, but please do).

–

68 Pages : Director: Sridhar Rangayan | Genre: Drama | Produced In: 2007

Produced by: The Humsafar Trust | Associate Producer: Solaris Pictures

Synopsis: A searingly honest film about five lives marked by pain and bound by hope – in 68 Pages of a counselor’s diary. A transsexual bar dancer, a prostitute, a gay couple – characters often ignored by Bollywood take center stage to tell their stories of pain and trauma, of happiness and hope, of stories never dealt with sensitively. Coming from a country like India that is still in denial, ‘68 Pages’ rips open the underbelly of its society to reveal how it stigmatizes and shuns those who are HIV+ or even those who just want to be what they are.

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Upcoming screenings of film 68 Pages

* Aug 1 – Satrang Fundraiser Screening, Los Angeles, USA

* Aug 11 – Q Film Festival, Bali, Indonesia

* Aug 12 – Screening at ICAAP9, Bali, Indonesia

* Oct 2 – Perspektive – International Human Rights Film Festival, Germany

Official Site - www.humsafar.org/68pages.htm, www.68pages.blogspot.com and www.solarispictures.com

Indian gay films screening

Bombay Dost Sunday High – 19 July – Films

The Sridhar Rangayan Film Fest

Three of Sridhar Rangayan’s award winning films are being screened as a package this Sunday. The director will be present for Q&A.

Gulabi Aaina (2003, 40 mins)

The Pink Mirror pits two Indian drag queens against a gay teenager in a battle to woo a handsome hunk. It’s a clash of the east and west. Who will win? The drag queens, who are expert in the art of seduction with their wit, innuendo and cunning or the young teenager who is saucy, slutty and sly? Underneath the campy humorous exterior, the film is an exploration of the Indian gay landscape and understanding of the deep, humanly tender bondings that exist between drag queens in India who form unique, non-patriarchal families. Using the Bollywood soap idiom of song, dance and drama and for the first time in the Indian drag queens’ very own language, Hindi, the film also explores other veiled issues related to the Indian gay community: the lurking threat of HIV/AIDS. Winner of several awards and screened at 72 international film festivals and over 150 screenings across the world.

imdb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0386499

68 Pages (2007, 90mins)

oming from a country like India that is still in denial, where being HIV+ is still a curse, ‘68 Pages’ rips open the underbelly of its society to reveal how it stigmatizes and shuns those who are HIV+ or even those who just want to be what they are. Through 68 Pages of a counselors diary, we see the stories of Paayal, a sex worker; Nishit, an ID user; Kiran, a gay man and Umrao, a transsexual bar dancer – their stories of pain and fear, humiliation and rejection – not only by the society, but even by their loved ones. While these stories expose the shallowness of the system, it also offers hope and healing by trying to bring about a better understanding of their fight to live with dignity. The film is a tribute to the human spirit of optimism and survival.

The film has screened at 12 international film festivals and over a 110 screenings across India and other countries and won the Silver Remi award at Worldfest-Houston 2008.

imdb: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1151299/

Yours Emotionally! (2005, 86 mins)
Sridhar Rangayan’s charming, daring film offers a fascinating look inside India’s emerging gay culture. Gay best buds Ravi, a second-generation Sikh, and Paul, an Englishman, live in London, where both are out and proud. They travel together to India, where they find a gay community far more open than they expected, as well as a community still held at bay by the country’s antiquated views on sexuality. Soon after their arrival, Ravi meets and falls in love with handsome, shy Mani. Their love is at first sight and mutual. But Mani is committed to an arranged marriage from which he cannot back out. Their love is doomed. Paul, meanwhile, is a horny dude who discovers that same-sex encounters are easy to find in India. As Ravi’s heart breaks, Paul is having the time of his life. The pair spend some time at a B&B run by Murthy and Anna (Ikhlaq Khan, Ajay Rohilla), a middle-aged gay couple.

As they get to know each other, all four men have life-altering epiphanies. The “boys” learn the true meaning of love from their older counterparts, who in turn learn the meaning of gay pride from the young ones. Lifelong friendships are formed.

imdb: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0818705/

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Time: 4.30 p.m. to 8.30 p.m., with a 15-minute break after the second film (i.e., 68 Pages)

Address: The Humsafar Trust’s Drop-in Centre, 4th floor, Municipal Transit Building (Vakola Municipal Market Building), Near Raheja Point and Vakola Masjid, Santacruz (East), Mumbai.

Space courtesy: The Humsafar Trust.

Note: Programme changes if any will ne announced here and on these channels: The Bombay Dost Wiki OR the Bombay Dost Facebook page OR follow Bombaydost on Twitter OR subscribe to our Google SMS Channel

Note: Programme changes if any will be posted on this site & on:
www.bombay-dost.pbwiki.com; www.facebook.com/BombayDost; @bombaydost on twitter; Bombay Dost Google SMS channel (http://labs.google.co.in/smschannels/subscribe/BombayDost)

68 Pages DVD now available ONLINE in INDIA

!!!EXCITING NEWS !!!

Order ONLINE in INDIA

Our DVDs are now just a click away

through Syncline

Please click link below:

http://synclinefilmstore.com/independent-/68-pages/prod_339.html

 

Please visit the film site to read more:

68 Pages – www.humsafar.org/68pages.htm

——————————————————————

You can also order Gulabi Aaina at this link –

http://synclinefilmstore.com/independent-/gulabi-aaina/prod_340.html

 

You can now buy 68 Pages DVDs online in India through eBay

You can now buy 68 Pages online in India through eBay

Please click on any one of the below links:

 

eBay link for buying 68 Pages DVD

eBay Link for 68 Pages

Link for buying 68 Pages DVD online through eBay

Bombay Dost Sunday High film screenings at Humsafar: 11 Jan ‘09

From the Bombay Dost PBwiki

This time there will be films on the late Harvey Milk, the first gay man elected to a major political office in the US.

*The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)*
90min, English
Directed by Rob Epstein

This Oscar award-winning American film documents the political career of Harvey Milk, who was San Francisco’s first openly gay supervisor. The film, at times humorous, at times tragic, documents the rise of Milk from a neighborhood activist to becoming a symbol of gay political achievement, through to his assassination at San Francisco’s city hall, and the Dan White trial and aftermath. The film was produced after Milk’s death using original interviews, exclusive documentary footage, news reports, and archival footage. Other politicians including San Francisco mayor George Moscone (who was assassinated with Milk) appear in archival footage. The film also won the Special Jury Prize at the first Sundance Film Festival, among other awards. (Wikipedia)

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Light snacks and refreshments will be served at the end of the first feature.

Screening times:
First Feature begins at 4.30 p.m.
Second Feature begins at 6:30 p.m.

Venue:  The Humsafar Trust’s Drop-in Centre, 4th floor, Municipal Transit Building/Vakola Municipal Market Building,
Near Raheja Point and Vakola Masjid, Santacruz (East), Mumbai.

Getting there: It’s approximately minimum fare by autorickshaw from Santacruz station (East). You could also take routes 311 or 313. The same routes also operate from Kurla (West) station.

Space courtesy: The Humsafar Trust.
Note: Programme subject to change without notice.  Please track:

The Bombay Dost Wiki (http://bombay-dost.pbwiki.com/)

OR The Facebook Page (http://www.new.facebook.com/pages/Bombay-Dost/52817999936)

OR Follow Bombaydost on Twitter (http://twitter.com/bombaydost)

OR Subscribe to our Google SMS Channel (http://labs.google.co.in/smschannels/subscribe/BombayDost)

“WE CAN CHANGE” – Discount on DVD

 “WE CAN CHANGE”
 LIVES OF HIV+ PEOPLE

World AIDS Month DISCOUNT
of $ 10
on DVDS of film ‘68 PAGES’

$28  – $18

All proceeds go to
Humsafar Trust HIV+ Group, Bombay, India

 

Login at https://www.createspace.com/251839 and enter discount code
Z5JBZL7R

 

Offer valid only for the month of December. Hurry.

 

68 Pages

92min | Hindi with English subtitles | Drama | 2007

From the director of Gulabi Aaina and Yours Emotionally comes another hard hitting drama about marginalized people.

Subverting the Bollywood film genre of song-dance and high drama, this film places characters ignored by Bollywood centerstage – a transsexual bar dancer, a prostitute, a gay couple – to tell their stories of pain and trauma, of happiness and hope, about being HIV+ and marginalized. A searingly honest film about five lives marked by pain and bound by hope – in 68 Pages of a counselor’s diary.

Produced by: The Humsafar Trust

Directed by: Sridhar Rangayan

 

 

DVD Store link – https://www.createspace.com/251839

Film Links: | Website | Blog | imdb | Wikipedia | Amazon |

The Humsafar Trust  | Solaris Pictures

 

Other Indian Gay Film DVDs on Amazon

 

Protest March to condemn violence against Hijras

Humsafar at protest march

 

Watch Slideshow

 

Queer Azadi Mumbai organized a press conference and public protest on November 13, 2008 to condemn violence against Hijras. It was organized by the Humsafar Trust in association with Stree Sangama, Labia, Gay Bombay, Sakhi Char Chowgi, etc. and supported by Lawyers Collective. The press meet at the Mumbai Marathi Patrakar Sangh was attended by a packed audience of press, media, lawyers, human rights activist, women support groups, LGBT community and many youngsters.

 

Sumathi from Sangama, Bangalore spoke about the horrific arrests, abuse and torture by the police of  Hijras and activists of Sangama in Bangalore last week. Many Hijras have been sexually molested and some even forced to leave the city. It si a reign of terror there, she said. Gauri of Sakhi Char Chowgi said that Hijras deal with violence everyday throughout their lives. She detailed how they do not have any rights and also have no one to turn to. She tearfully pleadede everyone there to help her clan live with dignity and basic human rights. Anand Grover of Lawyers Collective assured Gauri that things are moving in the right direction. With reading down of Sec 377 seemingly being considered favourably by the judiciary, there will soon be a time when Gauri and other hijras will have their rights. Sunil Pant of the Blue Diamond Society, a queer rights organization in Nepal and the country’s first openly gay elected MP spoke of the new Nepali Constitution that is even now being written which includes committees working on same sex marriage rights and protection of LGBTI people. This he said was a fantastic way forward.

Post the meeting, a large contingent of LGBTQ community members and other human rights group members marched holding placards to Azad Maidan. They held hands and formed a long human chain with banners that demanded an end to violence against hijras and demanded equal rights. Humsafar Trust’s Kalyan unit came with almost 60-70 gay and transgender people and raised slogans vociferously. They also said they were proud to be gay and will fight injustice. Sakhi Char Chowgi’s workers and Lawyers Collective’s group shouted slogans against police violence.

Protestors at the march

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Human Chain

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More Pics at PICASSA :

 

 

68 Pages DVDs released on Amazon

Buy DVDs of film 68 Pages on Amazon

68 Pages DVDs released on Amazon:
You can buy DVDs of 68 pages alongwith Bonus Features that includes 4 other queer short films on Amazon. Safe & secure transaction. Free shipping. Click here : http://astore.amazon.com/solarisp-20

In India, DVDs can be purchased in over 10 cities – Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Mandya, Rajkot, Surat, Pune and Nagpur. Please check www.humsafar.org/68pages/dvd.htm for more details.

68 Pages storms small town in Karnataka

Film 68 Pages screened at 5 venues in Bangalore & Mandya (Karnataka) last fortnight, organized in association with Sangama, Good As You, Alternative Law Forum, Pedestrian Pictures, Karnataka State AIDS Prevention Society, PES College and Rotary Club Mandya, attracting more than 1500 people that included government officials, health agencies, lawyers, film buffs, LGBT people, students and even housewives. It also aroused a lot of interest in the local press even in a small city like Mandya where for the first time the conservative local newspapers headlined issues like HIV, AIDS and homosexuality.
 

Reaching even to small cities like Mandya, where it screened last week to a packed hall of over 600 people, it not only drew appreciation but also a long discussion about the issues in the film. Speaking at the screening Shri Manjunath Prasad, Project Director, Karnataka State AIDS Prevention Society (KSAPS), urged people to be aware and advocate on these issues. He said it is very important that people in even small towns understand that HIV is not an epidemic restricted to cities and they too should take care.

“I was overwhelmed by the screening in my home town”, says Sridhar Rangayan, the director of the film who was born in Mandya. “In such a conservative town, it was encouraging to see so many people in the audience willing to listen and discuss. Especially when the film screened at the local PES college, the girl students were even bold enough to ask about homosexuality and gender issues. I think it is necessary to awaken and question dogmatic beliefs and value systems”, says Rangayan.

The screening in Bangalore was hosted by Pedestrian Pictures, Good as You and Alternative Law Forum alongwith the film ‘Love in the times of AIDS’ by Deepa Dhanraj in a double bill of queer films that intended to create awareness about homosexuals and the AIDS epidemic.

Rangayan said he hoped that the film raises social conscience about people living with HIV and removing stigma and discrimination. “I hope that this will become a movement to mainstream and integrate sexual minorities”, says Rangayan.

Slideshow: 68 Pages storms Karnataka