Queer fest's tribute to Wendell Rodricks postponed

A vital part of international queer film festival, Kashish, it will now be held in September on its opening day

WITH the queer film festival, Kashish Mumbai — to be held from May 20 to 24, at three venues in South Mumbai, Metro Inox, Liberty Theatre and Alliance Francaise de Bombay — pushed back to September because of Coronavirus, a vital part of the fest, a tribute to late fashion designer Wendell Rodricks, has been pushed back too.

The organisers of the 11th edition of the international festival said, "We look forward to being able to share a later date in September with everyone to celebrate Kashish 2020." Sridhar Rangayan, festival director, claimed that they are looking towards holding the film festival at the same three venues as of now, "But we will know for sure later, as there are a lot of film releases that have been pushed back too."

A big part of this festival was a planned tribute to queer designer Wendell who passed away in Goa in February this year. Rangayan said, "We had planned a video montage of Wendell as a tribute to him on the opening night of Kashish. The moving montage was to comprise stills of Wendell at the Mumbai film fest."

Though he lived in Goa, "Wendell was always an inextricable part of the Mumbai film festival," said Rangayan. He was at the festival in 2014, 2016 and in fact, last year, he was there to give away an award called the 'Rainbow Warrior' award. This award is given to persons who mainstream queer visibility.

In 2019, Wendell presented the award to a poet and author, Hoshang Merchant, who is originally from Mumbai, but now lives in Hyderabad. Wendell and activist Ashok Row Kavi, had themselves received the Rainbow Warrior award at the festival in 2014.

Rangayan added, "Jerome Marrell, Wendell's husband, who lives in Goa, had accepted our invitation to attend the tribute in May in Mumbai. We will now re-check if he can make it for our new schedule in September."

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