Indo-Canadian Director’s LGBTQ+ Documentary Feature ‘Emergence: Out of the Shadows’ Begins Festival Run

Indo-Canadian director Vinay Giridhar’s feature documentary debut, “Emergence: Out of the Shadows,” will have its world premiere at the Cinema Diverse festival in Palm Springs, Calif., Sept. 19. (emergencefilm.net photo)

India-West Staff Reporter

Sher Films announced Sept. 7 that Indo-Canadian director Vinay Giridhar’s feature documentary debut, “Emergence: Out of the Shadows,” will be starting its international festival run in September.

The LGBTQ+ documentary begins its tour with its world premiere at the prestigious Cinema Diverse festival in Palm Springs, Calif., Sept. 19 before heading to Atlanta, Georgia’s Out On Film Festival and the South Asian Film Festival in Chicago, Illinois, and back to Canada, with dates set at festivals in Vancouver, Toronto and Winnipeg.

The film will be showcased around in North America, India, the U.K. and more.

“Emergence: Out of the Shadows” follows three queer South Asians and their journey of acceptance within their conservative Punjabi Sikh families.

For Kayden, Jag, and Amar, awakening to and expressing their sexuality within their traditional South Asian communities was a lonely and terrifying experience: denial, shame and despair haunted their youths, even threatening their lives.

In this gripping social justice documentary, the disparate journeys of three people candidly converge around a shared sense of compassion and healing. Topics like tradition and taboo are confronted by the cast and their families in this important film that offers comfort, compassion, and inspiration to individuals and communities struggling with acceptance.

The film is directed and edited by Giridhar (“Love’s Age”), produced by Alex Sangha, who also stars in the film, and features cast, including Kayden Bhangu, Jag Nagra, Jaspal Sangha, Avtar Singh Nagra, Rajwant Kaur Nagra and Harv Nagra.

On top of its festival run, the film will have community screenings, debut on OUTtv and is being distributed into the educational market by Moving Images Distribution.

At the 2022 Canadian Screen Awards, Sangha and Giridhar have been nominated for the Ted Rogers Best Feature Length Documentary award, while Giridhar has won a nomination for the Best Editing in Feature Length Documentary award.