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Director Onir is delighted that his film pine cone is screening at the British Film Institute Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival. “I am very happy because it is a famous festival that has specially selected films that people talk about,” Onir shares with us after the announcement.
BFI Flare is one of the largest queer film events in the world. Onir revealed that soon after ticket sales for the two-day screening of his film opened, day 1 was sold out in no time. “I just hope this generates interest at home because ultimately it makes my country, my people and our communities proud,” he adds.
pine cone is a semi-autobiographical film about a filmmaker who explores his journey over two decades and how the changing landscape of queer rights in India in 1999 makes him cynical about love. The film has already garnered praise at several film festivals.
He Am The director stated that even though Pine Cone is a queer-centric Indian film, it will connect globally because the core of the community remains the same.
“Nowadays, the global audience is used to watching different types of films from all over the world. There is a space where you are loved. It is not only for people from the (queer) community, but also for people who love to watch good films”. said the 54-year-old filmmaker.
Onir has been a pioneer of LGBTQIA+ cinema in India. your movie My brother Nikhil (2005) had Sanjay Suri and Purab Kohli playing a gay couple. The film received several awards and critical acclaim.
Looking back, Onir remembers how My brother Nikhil was questioned for being ahead of his time, and shares that even Pine Cone is being called that. Jokingly, he says, “In India people are still taking baby steps. And my life, our queer life, is not baby steps. Just like I, as an audience, as a gay man, I can watch any movie, even those that don’t. Aren’t queer should be able to see Pine Cone for its history, the beauty and the people’s journey.”
But do you feel that India is still lagging behind in bringing same-sex stories to screens, even as the canvas of cinema is increasing day by day? She says that even if people think queer films have a limited audience, their job is to tell new stories.
“So it’s the job of distributors, exhibitors and platforms to figure out how to get there. Sometimes it’s a little exhausting trying to negotiate. Doing it is always a pleasure, but finding a theater, especially in India, is always a trauma. Sometimes I feel the “The amount of money people spend on buying candles and curtains, I can make a movie out of that!”
While Onir has no problem making films with a budget of $100 crore, he asks “why can’t we put 10% in films that have been accepted as populist cinema?” He also believes that “the public will not change overnight. We must continue offering them this type of films so that little by little our backs are transformed.”
Onir firmly maintains that his goal is to tell stories of people “who are made to be invisible. As an industry, it is important to tell all kinds of films.”
“Whenever a queer person thinks of a romantic song, the images revolve around a man and a woman. So I thought: let me listen to a love song (in pine cone) between two men. For me it’s just celebrating our lives,” she concludes.