In partnership with BFI Flare: London Film Festival, we speak to directors Amrou Al-Kadhi and Onir about the progress of queer film in the Global South and why LGBTQIA+ representation outside the Western film canon matters.
WORDS BY ZOYA RAZA-SHEIKH HEADER DESIGN BY YOSEF PHELAN We all remember the first queer film that resonated with us.
For me, it was Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To Aisa Laga; a seemingly innocuous Bollywood rom-com about a struggling playwright and his fateful encounter with a small-town young woman looking to change her life.
Directed by Shelly Chopra Dhar, the 2019 film disguised itself as a classic straight-laced movie where the boy falls for the girl, but, instead, it marked a pivot in queer culture.