Queer Sydney story screens in India

Queer Sydney story screens in India

Unmade, the debut short film from fledgling Sydney production house Gen Q Films, made its big screen debut in the unlikely location of Mumbai, India this week as part of the Kashish International Queer Film Festival.

For co-director Nick Atkins, the opportunity to support a new queer film festival was too good to pass up.

“I’ve been looking for people making exciting work from unlikely places, and that’s how I stumbled on Kashish, which is only in its second year,” he said.

“I feel like the festival needs a lot of support — they’re producing an event in pretty hostile territory. I’m really proud to be a part of it.”

Unmade tells the story of a young couple in a sero-discordant relationship (where one partner is HIV positive and the other is not). While the two men are comfortable in their relationship, they come up against vocal prejudice from friends and family. The idea for the film was sparked by Atkins’ own experiences as a volunteer with ACON.

“In my volunteering, I’ve come across a lot of their materials for dealing with issues like this,” he said.

“There’s a wealth of stuff out there that focuses on the couple’s dynamic, and we were more interested in looking at the attitudes of the people around a couple. In our film, it’s a friend, a sister and a father who all present really differing voices on their relationship.

“We were less interested in exploring issues of HIV, and more interested in exploring what influence other people can have in your relationship. When do you take the leap and decide something’s yours?”

While Atkins was unsure if Unmade would receive a Sydney screening, he said the team at Gen Q Films — a close-knit trio of producer Katie Amos, director of photography Patrick McCoy and himself — were hungry to tell more queer stories.

“We are going to be producing a lot more work. Unmade has definitely opened a few doors for us, so we want to get better and better.”

info: Visit www.mumbaiqueerfest.com

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