There’s big debate in India at the moment over homosexuality, with the Supreme Court having to decide whether the legalisation of gay sex a few years ago should have been allowed. It’s still a tough country to be openly gay in, one main who is open about himself is filmmaker Onir, whose movie, I Am, just picked up Best Hindi Feature Film at the National Film Awards, India’s most prestigious film awards ceremony.
It’s a huge stamp of approval for a small, indie movie that deals with gay issues, which was partially funded through Facebook crowdsourcing, with 400 people earning a co-producer credit by giving money to get the film made. Onir went to the web for cash after established studios balked at the idea of funding a film about various controversial topics.
I Am tells four separate stories, one about child abuse, one about gay rights, one about Kashmir and one about sperm donation, all of which are big issues in India today. You can see more in a trailer below.
Onir commented to the Indo-Asian News Service: ‘This award has given me a lot of strength. This was the most difficult film to make as studios were not ready to acquire the film. This is a film made by people and this award is for those people who helped in the film.’
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