Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Fest turns to crowd funding to raise funds

Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival is turning to crowd funding on social media platforms to raise finances.

According to the organizers, the move is aimed at keeping the festival free for audiences.

‘The idea for crowd funding KASHISH was more of a necessity, because with no government support and not too many corporates yet enthused about supporting a queer event, we felt it was time to involve the community,’ said Sridhar Rangayan, Festival Director.

‘The film festival is a not-for-profit event and one of few festivals of its kind in the world that does not charge ticket prices or a registration fee. We are committed to keep the festival free this year too and to achieve this we thought what better way than crowd funding,’ he added.

Kashish has signed up with internet portal Wishberry.in to provide a payment gateway for the crowd funding venture. It has put in place online as well as offline modes of contribution – from credit cards, to cheques and even cash payment.  For potential contributors there are incentives in the form of exclusive Kashish merchandise and reserved seats for special events during the festival.

KASHISH 2012 will be held from May 23-27, 2012 at Cinemax Versova, Andheri and from May 24-26, 2012 at Alliance Française de Bombay, Marine Lines. The festival will feature 120 films from 29 countries this year.

KASHISH 2012’s theme is ‘FOR EVERYONE’ and the festival will make a special effort to program films and have panel discussions that not only deal with gay, lesbian, transgender themes, but also those that relate to families and friends of LGBT people.

The festival is organized by Solaris Pictures and Bombay Dost in association with The Humsafar Trust. .

To contribute, the link is: http://kashishmiqff.blogspot.com

For further updates on the festival and to register, visit:

Festival Website: http://www.mumbaiqueerfest.com/

Festival Blog: http://kashishmiqff.blogspot.com/

Posted by NewsDesk on May 2 2012. Filed under Features & Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.