Queer creative Indian city: queer film festivals, precarious cultural work and community making in Kolkata

Dasgupta, R. K. and Bakshi, K. (2023) Queer creative Indian city: queer film festivals, precarious cultural work and community making in Kolkata. Cultural Trends, 32(4), pp. 348-365. (doi: 10.1080/09548963.2023.2212607)

Abstract

In this article, we offer a new concept of the “queer creative city”, through a critical examination of how a regional queer Bengali film culture has emerged in Kolkata as a result of the convergence of certain urban policies, queer political organising and cultural activism. We explore two queer film festivals in Kolkata – the Siddharth Gautam Film Festival and Dialogues, both having a very significant impact in transforming LGBTQ + lives in Kolkata. Through archival research, autoethnography and conducting extensive interviews with organising committees, venue sponsors and owners, and viewers, we show how these film festivals and a pre-existing Bengali film culture engendered the emergence of a prolific creative queer city, which became a site of resistance, and community building that created a solid base for queer counterpublics. Queer film festivals, we argue, are critical sites for charting the dynamics of the public sphere in contemporary India.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Dasgupta, Dr Rohit
• Authors: Dasgupta, R. K., and Bakshi, K.
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Culture and Creative Arts > Theatre Film and TV Studies
• Journal Name: Cultural Trends
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• ISSN: 0954-8963
• ISSN (Online): 1469-3690
• Published Online: 18 May 2023
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2023 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Cultural Trends 32(4):348-365
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License