Chennai is witnessing the seventh edition of reel desires: The fest aims to provide a safe space for the LGBTQIA (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual) community, while also helping others learn about gender diversity through short films and feature films.

This year’s line-up of the festival consists of 26 films from a total of 12 countries. The films being screened include Song Lang (Vietnamese), Dicke Madchen (Heavy Girls in German), Retablo (Spanish), Miss Man (Bengali) by Tathagata Ghosh, Njan Sanjo (Malayalam) by Jijo Kuriakose and Oruvanukku Orunththi? (Tamil) by Vimal Santiagu, among others. There will also be a panel discussion on August 3 on the issue of ‘Inclusion 2.0: LGBTQA+ rights after the NALSA and Johar Supreme Court verdicts’, featuring speakers from diverse fields. On August 4, Freedom Begum – In Search of Lost Stories, a multilingual play by Raahi, a Bengaluru-based group of sexual and gender minorities, will be screened. The fest will be held till August 4 at Goethe Institut from 3 pm to 9 pm. For more details, visit www.ciqff.org.

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