Stir Q&A: Emergence explores the struggle to come out in South Asian community, at Vancouver Queer Film Festival
Local documentary has travelled the world with its multigenerational message of “love is love”
Vancouver’s Jag Nagra (left).
Kayden Bhangu.
Vancouver Queer Film Festival presents Emergence: Out of the Shadows on August 19 at the York Theatre, with a Q&A with the director, producer, and cast after the screening, and online until August 21
AMID THE VANCOUVER Queer Film Festival offerings that explore coming-out stories over the next 10 days, one of the most sensitive, personal, and locally relevant is director Vinay Giridhar’s Emergence: Out of the Shadows.
The documentary focuses on three local people, Kayden, Jag, and Amar, who reflect on the different ways they came to embrace their queer identities within conservative South Asian families—in particular, within the Punjabi Sikh community.
In the film, Giridhar speaks not just to the subjects about their intense and often painful struggles, but in some cases, to their parents about the journey to acceptance.
Emergence comes home to the VQFF after quite a ride. Since debuting in 2021, the film has travelled to festivals around the world, including the Mumbai International Film Festival, Indian Film Festival of Melbourne, New York Indian Film Festival, U.K. Asian Film Festival, and Chicago South Asian Film Festival, just to name a few.
Stir spoke to Giridhar about the courage of his subjects and the film’s impact so far.
What did you discover were some of the more unique challenges people faced coming out as gay and lesbian within the Punjabi Sikh community?
The Punjabi Sikh community, like most South Asian cultures, often has conservative values and follows a very rigid patriarchal family structure. They have strict norms and high expectations of their youth. Boys and girls are not allowed to freely mingle with the opposite sex. The children have immense pressure to do well in their school and careers. There's barely any conversation about sex, sexuality, or gender identity in the home, yet parents expect their children to get married to the opposite sex and raise families.
This pressure often pushes LGBTQ+ children in the South Asian community to the edge and hence they find it extremely hard to come out and express themselves. This is their biggest obstacle to coming out.
Why was it important for you to include the older generation—the parents—in the film, and was it a challenge convincing them to take part?
Including the parents in the film was crucial to the conversation in the film Emergence: Out of the Shadows. Parents often hold the key and ultimate power in accepting or rejecting their queer children.
The shocking story of Kayden, who was disowned by his parents for being gay, inspired us to make this film. Kayden's parents had sent him off from India to Canada to hide his sexuality from the extended family. When they realized they cannot change him, his family cut him off and he was left in a foreign country with no way to support himself.
Since there is very little awareness and education about LGBTQ+ issues in the community, it was important to show parents who are willing to embrace their children how they are.
The parents who came forward to tell their stories of unconditional love and acceptance, volunteered because they believe their experiences can help other parents understand the issue and save lives. They were very happy to join this cause as “seva” or selfless service, despite all their barriers.
Do you find it striking how, in each case with your subjects, no matter how successful or comfortable they are in their own identity, they crave the approval of their parents–that it’s an integral piece of coming out for them?
In the film, Amar says, "Every child wants the love and acceptance of their parents."
Despite having successful careers and being comfortable in their own skin, we found the cast universally had a fear of being rejected by their own people. They are scared of losing the safety net and security that is family, because of something they have no control over like their sexuality and gender identity. Fear of being disowned challenges their sense of identity and existence. This often leads many to severe depression and mental health challenges.
To love, be loved, and accepted for who they are is the ultimate goal of every human.
Here you’re debuting your film at the Vancouver Queer Film Festival. What kind of reactions have you been getting at South Asian festivals?
We are overwhelmed by the love and feedback we received so far.
Emergence: Out of the Shadows as a film has taken on a life of its own. It has been selected at nearly 20 South Asian film festivals in the USA, Canada, India, Nepal, UK, and Australia.
In addition, the film has been screened at nearly 35 high schools, colleges, universities, and the community in Metro Vancouver. A Teacher’s Discussion Guide has been developed to go along with the film. The documentary will also be available in Punjabi, Hindi, and French subtitles. The entire Emergence team is thrilled at the film's success around the globe.
In Canada, the film was also picked up by three television broadcasters including Knowledge Network, TVO, and OUTtv. Most notably the film has been accepted at Out On Film in Atlanta, which is an Academy Award-qualifying festival; Frameline in San Francisco which is a BAFTA-qualifying festival; and five Canadian Screen Award-qualifying festivals, including the Vancouver Asian Film Festival, Vancouver International South Asian Film Festival, Vancouver Queer Film Festival, NorthwestFest International Documentary Festival in Edmonton, and Reelworld Film Festival in Toronto.
If Emergence: Out of the Shadows can achieve one change, what do you hope it will be?
Our producer Alex Sangha and the whole team, including myself as the director, had only one hope with Emergence: Out of the Shadows, which is to create safe spaces and save the lives of LGBTQ+ children and youth that are struggling to find acceptance among their friends and loved ones.
Our goal is to normalize conversations around sexuality and gender identity at a family level and our message is simple, "Love is love - being gay is just another way of loving."
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