Sonali Gulati is an Indian American independent filmmaker, feminist, grass-roots activist, and educator.
Madonna: Truth or Dare is a 1991 American documentary film by director Alek Keshishian chronicling the life of entertainer Madonna during her 1990 Blond Ambition World Tour. Madonna approached Keshishian to do an HBO special on the tour after watching his Harvard senior project. Initially planned to be a traditional concert film, Keshishian was so impressed with the backstage life that he persuaded Madonna to make it the focus of the film. Madonna funded the project and served as executive producer. The film was edited to be in black-and-white, in order to emulate cinéma vérité, while the performance scenes are in color.
Alek Keshishian is an Armenian-born American film and commercial director, writer, producer and music video director. His 1991 documentary, Madonna: Truth or Dare was the highest-grossing documentary of all time until 2002; it "changed the way filmmakers explored the world of celebrity" and had a "profound impact on LGBTQ representation in film."
Catherine Crouch is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer, and actor. She has been active in independent film-making for over two decades. Most of her work explores gender, race, and class in lesbian and queer lives. She is known for Stranger Inside (2001), Stray Dogs (2002), and The Gendercator (2007).
Koneenica Banerjee is an Indian actress associated with Tollywood, predominantly appears in Bengali films and serials.
The KASHISH Pride Film Festival is an annual LGBTQ event that has been held in Mumbai, India, since 2010. The film festival screens gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer films from India and around the world. It is voted as one of the top five LGBT film festivals in the world.
Khan Ataur Rahman was a Bangladeshi film actor, director, producer, screenplay writer, music composer, and singer, best known for his role in the film Jibon Theke Neya (1970). He received the Bangladesh National Film Award for Best Screenplay for the films Sujon Sokhi (1975) and Danpite Chhele (1980). He was awarded Ekushey Padak posthumously in 2003 by the Government of Bangladesh.
Ram Mohan was an Indian animator, title designer and design educator, who was also known as father of Indian Animation and was a veteran in the Indian animation industry, who started his career at the Cartoon Films Unit, Films Division of India, Government of India in 1956. He was chairman and chief creative officer at Graphiti Multimedia, a Mumbai-based animation company which was established in 1995, and later he also established the Graphiti School of Animation in 2006.
Anupam Roy is an Indian singer-songwriter, music director, composer, songwriter, guitarist, playback singer from Kolkata, India. He made his debut with Amake Amar Moto Thakte Dao & Benche Thakar Gaan, which appeared on the soundtrack of the 2010 Bengali film Autograph. Since then, he has gone on to compose, write lyrics and sing for many Bengali films.
Leena Manimekalai is an Indian filmmaker, poet and an actor. Her works include five published poetry anthologies and several films in genres, documentary, fiction and experimental poem films. She has been recognised with participation, mentions and best film awards in many international and national film festivals.
Olga Wilhelmine Munding is an American New Orleans-based blues musician, producer and actress.
Sourav Sarkar, popularly known as Joy Sarkar, is a Kolkata based Indian Bengali film music composer. Sarkar mainly works in Bengali cinema and albums. He composed soundtracks for Jodi Ekdin (2010), Accident (2012), Muktodhara (2012), Bicycle Kick (2013), Half Serious (2013), Rupkatha Noy (2013), The play (2013), Antaraal (2013), Women Prayed and Preyed Upon (2013), Ek Phali Rodh (2014), Abby Sen (2015), Kiriti Roy (2016), Nayikar Bhumikay (2017), Bilu Rakkhosh (2017), Pupa (2018), Reunion (2019), Shesher Golpo (2019), and Parcel (2019).
Ileana Citaristi is an Italian Odissi and Chhau dancer, and dance instructor based in Bhubaneswar, India. She was awarded the 43rd National Film Awards for Best Choreography for Yugant in 1995 and became, in 2006, the first dancer of foreign origin to be conferred the Padma Shri for her contributions to Odissi.
Sudipa Basu is a Bengali film and television actress.
Baby Helen is a Bangladeshi film actress. She won the Bangladesh National Film Award for Best Actress for her role in the film Hangor Nodi Grenade (1997) and Best Supporting Actress for Meghkonna (2018). She has acted in over 100 movies.
Amina Maher is a queer feminist artist, activist, and filmmaker, whose works train her unblinking gaze on the breakdown of family structure, shame culture, and patriarchal myths. Her creative works criticize traditions, media, culture, and norms. Her cinematic activity began as the main actor in Abbas Kiarostami and Mania Akbari´s Ten (2002) nominated for the Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival. She was unknowingly filmed in the passenger seat of her mother´s car. Since then, she acted, edited, and has been in films that have been part of festivals such as Cannes Film Festival, British Film Institute, San Sebastián International Film Festival and International Film Festival Rotterdam. Her directorial short films have been internationally well received with +200 festival participations and +50 Awards from festivals such as Ann Arbor Film Festival, TLVFest, Reeling: The Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival, Expresión en Corto International Film Festival and Shorts México, among many others.
Chennai International Queer Film Festival is a three-day LGBT- event that usually takes places on the last weekend of July as a part of the city's pride events. The main organizers are SAATHII and Orinam in partnership with Goethe-Institut, Chennai. The other volunteers include various community groups and NGOs, including Nirangal, East-West Center for Counselling, and RIOV. The last day is usually performances along with a panel discussion, usually to discuss and bring out the challenges faced by community members.
Bhimsain was an Indian film director, producer, screenwriter and animator. He is best known as the pioneer of Indian animation, along with his mentor Ram Mohan. He was the recipient of 16 President's National Awards for his contributions to Indian cinema.
