Surrey, British Columbia – A grassroots community-based documentary, Emergence: Out of the Shadows, from Metro Vancouver, Canada is making a splash at film festivals around the world including in Canada, USA, UK, Portugal, and India.
The debut feature documentary of director Vinay Giridhar, who initially studied animation at the Vancouver Film School, was an official selection at qFLIX in Philadelphia, Image+Nation in Montreal, and Out on Film in Atlanta which is an Academy Award qualifying festival. The film qualified and entered the Canadian Screen Awards for 2022 for Best Feature Documentary and Best Editing with official selections at the Vancouver Asian Film Festival, Vancouver International South Asian Film Festival, and Reelworld Film Festival in Toronto.
The film picked up a Festival Favorite Award at Cinema Diverse in Palm Springs where it had its World Premiere in September 2021. It also received a Special Mention for Director Vinay Giridhar for Best Feature Documentary at the Chicago South Asian Film Festival. Emergence: Out of the Shadows was also the Closing Night Film at the South Asian Film Festival of Montreal where it had a live in-person screening and panel discussion with members of the cast.
The UK Premiere was held at the Central Scotland Documentary Festival and the India and South Asia Premiere is coming up at the prestigious Reel Desires – Chennai International Queer Film Festival in December 2021.
“The entire community came together to help produce this documentary via Sher Vancouver which is a grassroots non-profit society. The film was a passion project which took nearly three years to produce in the midst of the Covid pandemic. I am very grateful to the sponsors, supporters, and our community partners for believing in us and giving us a chance to share our stories and lived experience,” stated producer and cast member Alex Sangha. This is also Alex’s debut feature documentary which he helped produce with the support of the National Screen Institute (NSI) which is based in Winnipeg, Canada.
Check out the official trailer which is approaching 17K views
https://youtu.be/VNjT3g1bf_Q
OFFICIAL WEBSITE
https://emergencefilm.net/
SYNOPSIS
For Kayden, Jag, and Amar, awakening to and expressing their sexuality within conservative South Asian families was a lonely and terrifying experience. Denial, shame and despair haunted their youths, even threatening their lives. Yet, they’ve emerged. In the gripping feature documentary Emergence: Out of the Shadows, the disparate journeys of Kayden, Jag and Amar candidly converge around a shared sense of compassion and healing as they bravely convey their often heart-wrenching stories. Confronted with tradition and taboo in their Punjabi Sikh cultures, resisting silence, Jag’s parents and Amar’s mother choose love over rejection, offering courage and inspiration to individuals and communities struggling with acceptance. Tender, thoughtful and teary, Emergence: Out of the Shadows asserts a potent and transformative voice in support of marginalized queer youth and their families.
AWARDS AND OFFICIAL SELECTIONS
HIGHLIGHTS AND HONOURS
EMERGENCE: OUT OF THE SHADOWS
Updated: November 30, 2021
Award Winner for Best Documentary, Vancouver International South Asian Film Festival, November 14, 2021
Special Mention, Best Feature Documentary for Director Vinay Giridhar, Chicago South Asian Film Festival, October 4, 2021
Festival Favorite, Cinema Diverse, Palm Springs LGBTQ+ Film Festival, Audience award given to films that score a 4 or higher out of a possible 5 points, October 15, 2021
Closing Film at the Vancouver International South Asian Film Festival, November 14, 2021
Closing Film at the South Asian Film Festival of Montreal, November 28, 2021
Finalist, Best Canadian Feature Award, Vancouver Asian Film Festival, November 14, 2021
Finalist, Best Director for Canadian Feature Award, Vancouver Asian Film Festival, November 14, 2021
Finalist, Best Cinematography for Canadian Feature Award, Vancouver Asian Film Festival, November 14, 2021
OFFICIAL SELECTIONS
QUEER
Cinema Diverse: The Palm Springs LGBTQ Film Festival
World Premiere
September 19, 2021
Palm Springs, California, USA
QUEER
Out On Film
Atlanta’s LGBTQ Film Festival
Academy Award Qualifying
September 23 to October 3, 2021
Avondale Estates, Georgia, USA
SOUTH ASIAN
Chicago South Asian Film Festival
The largest annual South Asian event in the heartland of America
September 25 to October 2, 2021
Chicago, Illinois, USA
QUEER
qFLIX Philadelphia: The LGBTQ+ Film Festival
Ranked in the Top 25 Coolest film festivals in the world by MovieMaker Magazine
qFLIX is one of the TOP 10 Best LGBTQ+ Film Festivals in the WORLD!
GayCity News
September 26 to October 3, 2021
Philadelphia, Pennyslvania, USA
SOUTH ASIAN
Tasveer South Asian Film Festival
The largest South Asian film festival in the USA
October 1 to 24, 2021
Seattle, Washington, USA
DOCUMENTARY
KDocsFF
Metro Vancouver’s Premiere Social Justice Doc Film Festival
Canadian Premiere
Virtual Screening
Special Screening for National Coming Out Day
October 11, 2021
Surrey, BC, Canada
QUEER
Reel Pride International Film Festival
The oldest queer film festival in Canada
Virtual Screening
October 12 to 17, 2021
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
BIPOC
Reelworld Film Festival
Canadian Screen Award Qualifying
Virtual Screening
October 20 to 25, 2021
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
QUEER
Desperado LGBTQ Film Festival
October 22 to 24, 2021
Phoenix, Arizona
LOCAL
New West Film Fest
October 22 to 24, 2021
New Westminster, BC, Canada
SOUTH ASIAN
Caleidoscope Indian Film Festival of Boston
The largest Indian Film Festival in New England
October 22 to 24, 2021
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
DOCUMENTARY
Central Scotland Documentary Festival
UK Premiere
October 28 to November 1, 2021
Stirling, Scotland
ASIAN
Vancouver Asian Film Festival
Canadian Screen Award Qualifying
The longest running Asian film festival in Canada
November 4 to 14, 2021
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
INTERNATIONAL
Caminhos Film Festival
One of Portugal’s oldest film festivals
27th edition of the festival
November 5 to 20, 2021
Screening In-Person on November 12, 2021
Coimbra, Portugal
SOUTH ASIAN
Vancouver International South Asian Film Festival
Canadian Screen Award Qualifying
Closing Film of the Festival
November 11 to 14, 2021
Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
QUEER
Image + Nation
LGBTQ Film Festival
Oldest festival of its kind in Canada
November 18 to 28, 2021
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
SOUTH ASIAN
South Asian Film Festival of Montreal
Closing Film of the Festival
November 19 to 28, 2021
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
QUEER
Reel Desires, Chennai International Queer Film Festival
Over two weekends in December 2021
Online Festival
Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
INTERNATIONAL
Jaipur International Film Festival
January 7 – 11, 2022
Online and In-Person
Jaipur, Rajasthan, India
