#LGBTQI+# Queer film festival# Odd Fish# Brazil’s Baby# Kashish 2025# films# film festival
IBNS-CMEDIA: The 16th edition of KASHISH Pride Film Festival came to a close last evening with a glittering ceremony where awards in 10 film categories were presented.
Festival Director Sridhar Rangayan said, “Despite the huge challenges we faced due to financial constraints, we are happy that the five day pride film festival concluded with great élan and fanfare with many houseful shows. The award ceremony was the crowning glory where actors, writers and filmmakers received their richly deserved awards. I’m especially thrilled by Icelandic trans actor Arna Magnea Danks winning the best actor award, and non-binary Indian filmmaker Shoi winning the Ismat Chughtai award.”
Icelandic film Odd Fish directed by Snaevar Solvason picked up the Best Narrative Feature award and its lead actor Arna Magnea Danks was awarded Best Performance in a Lead Role award, as well as a special mention for Best Screenplay.
Speaking about the wins, writer director Snaevar Solvason said, “These are the first ever award wins for the film, and the film has travelled to many film festivals. I love India and this award has brought sunshine into this rather cold countryside!”
Brazilian & Dutch co-production feature Baby won the Best Screenplay award for its writers Gabriel Domingues & Marcelo Caetano as well as a special mention to the lead actor Joao Pedro Marian. Marcelo Caetano who is also the director of the film said, “I was there in India in 2020, and hope to return to do some p[project in the beautiful country”.
Joao Pedro Marian, the 22-year old actor gushed happily, “My heart is beating here in Brazil, completely filled with joy, to see that my work touches people in different parts of the world in other continents. I feel really honoured that this film is touching so many people in so many countries, especially in a special film festival like yours”.
The closing ceremony included a dance performance by The House of Sway, an LGBTQ+ group, a musical performance by Bombay Noor, a music band that showcased their music video, and also the launch of the trailer of In-Transit, a documentary series releasing soon on Amazon Prime, produced by Tiger Baby Productions.
The evening was hosted by actor Sid Makkar and drag queen SeducQtress SoniQa.
KASHISH 2025 AWARD WINNERS
KASHISH QDRISHTI FILM GRANT
MAKE-UP ROOM (India) written by Shubam Negi
Cash award of Rs.2,50,000 supported by Lotus Visual Productions
BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE
ODD FISH (Iceland) directed by Snaevar Solvason
Cash award of Rs.30,000 supported by KASHISH Arts Foundation
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
WARM FILM (Topli Film) (Serbia) directed by Dragan Jovićević
Cash award of Rs.30,000 supported by K.F. Patil Charitable Trust
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
B AND S (India) directed by Lipika Singh Darai
Cash award of Rs.25,000 supported by K.F.Patil Charitable Trust
BEST INTERNATIONAL NARRATIVE SHORT
VIOLETS (Violetas) (Spain) directed by Borja Escribano
Cash award of Rs.25,000 supported by GagOOLala
BEST INDIAN NARRATIVE SHORT
JASMINE THAT BLOOMS IN AUTUMN (India) directed by Chandradeep Das
Cash award of Rs.25,000 supported by KASHISH Arts Foundation
BEST PERFORMANCE IN A LEAD ROLE
ARNA MAGNEA DANKS in the film Odd Fish
Cash award of Rs.25,000 supported by Samruddhi Studios
BEST SCREENPLAY
GABRIEL DOMINGUES AND MARCELO CAETANO (Brazil) for the film Baby
Cash award of Rs.25,000 supported by Abhay Kulkarni
BEST STUDENT SHORT AWARD
TWO TRAVELLING AUNTIES (Columbia, UK) directed by Christine Seow
RIYAD WADIA AWARD FOR BEST EMERGING INDIAN FILMMAKER
SAIKAT MONDAL (India) for his film JALSA
Cash award of Rs.25,000 supported by Wadia Movietone
ISMAT CHUGHTAI AWARD FOR BEST WOMAN FILMMAKER OF INDIAN ORIGIN
SHOI (India) for their film PROJECT PRIYO and JOEY KAUSHIK (India) for her film THE WITCH OF VIHAR LAKE
Cash award of Rs.20,000 supported by Ashish Sawhny
ADITYA NANDA AWARD FOR BEST FILM ON QUEER MENTAL HEALTH
AFTER ALL (UK, France, Germany) directed by Chongyan Liu
Cash award of Rs.25,000 supported by Keshav Suri Foundation
RUNNERS-UP FOR KASHISH QDRISHTI FILM GRANT
US GIRLS written by Rayyan Monkey (She/They)
OPERATION: GULZAR written by Varsha Panikar (They/He)
Cash award of Rs.75,000 each supported by Abhishek Chaubey, Guneet Monga Kapoor, Renuka Shahane, and Vikramaditya Motwane
SPECIAL JURY MENTIONS
BEST PERFORMANCE IN A LEAD ROLE
JOAO PEDRO MARIANO in the film BABY.
BEST SCREENPLAY (FEATURE FILM)
SNAEVAR SOLVASON for the film ODD FISH
BEST SCREENPLAY (SHORT FILM)
ANA BERDEJA for the film SOLE
