The city’s Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer (LGBTQ) film festival Kashish is back for its 16th year. The film festival will open at a Bandra West venue this time, on June 4 after which films will be screened in Andheri and South Mumbai.

It is interesting that the Kashish caravan, which has been trundling on with pride (pun intended) for 16 years now, has a new venue for its showpiece opening night. This is a welcome move as it is also illustrative of the fact that more spaces in the city may be ready to accept queer-themed events on their premises. There is, of course, the commercial aspect too, as the ‘pink rupee’ is still money, but the fact that new spaces are being explored is reason enough to cheer.

The LGBTQ community is stifled not just in intangible ways, but in physical spaces, too. Gay couples are afraid to be seen out in public spaces, sometimes it is just too dangerous for them. Even visiting a queer film festival is done surreptitiously by some, hidden from family members. Here, OTT platforms that allow anonymity, is a safer option. In fact, it is the Internet that has seen so many ‘coming out’ as the online space offered LGBTQ individuals the space that simply does not exist or is too dangerous in the real, offline, physical world.