NEW DELHI: It turns out that Jawaharlal Nehru University is not ready to unfurl the rainbow flag just yet. By the time the first credits appeared, "JNU's first queer film festival" had already become "closed-door screenings" organized for educational and awareness purposes. Students from other institutions had also been invited to the two-day Satrang 2014, but organizers say the university administration had threatened to pull the plug if they didn't make it exclusive to JNU and call it an educational and a private initiative besides cancelling the "March for Love" that was to follow.
"We wanted the JNU banner," says Gourab Ghosh who'd been trying to organize this in collaboration with the university's film club for over a year. "We wanted this to be a JNU initiative in which everyone—students, teachers, administration—was involved." The administration, he says, allowed funds and the use of the auditorium at School of Social Sciences-I, but on the conditions mentioned. There was also a problem with the poster: the still from a Brazilian film depicting two men lying together was found objectionable.
Anujeema Saikia, convener of the film club, found herself explaining to a variety of authorities why a queer film fest was required at all. "I explained to them that it was relevant because we study gender politics and now have a new centre on it. I was told I should know what sort of causes to support," she says. Plot summaries have to be submitted and vetted before films can be screened.
The "March for Love" from the administrative block to Ganga dhaba, originally scheduled for March 16, is also off. "We are a university campus and must take into account diverse viewpoints," says students' dean Abdul Nafey. He explains that the university doesn't have anything against the initiative per se but its public nature. "All cultural activities in JNU are essentially for JNU," he says, "This (the screenings) are being organized privately by a group of students and they had asked us for funds. We help depending on our ability."
(H/T: The Times of India)
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