Chutney Popcorn
Chutney Popcorn (1999) was one of the first South Asian films to premiere at Outfest, a Los Angeles-based queer film festival. Written by, produced by, and starring Nisha Ganatra, it won the Audience Award that year. At the time, Satrang helped create a community of viewers for this film as well as another set of short queer films, screened under the title "Gulab Jamun," an important step in expanding South Asian visibility. One of the principal participants in Satrang, Sanjay Chhugani, was crucial to the founding of Outfest Fusion QTBIPOC Film Festival. In the next section, you will be able to hear Chhugani speak about his involvement.
"When you make a movie about how you are not accepted, and then it brings you acceptance"
In this interview from summer 2023, the Los Angeles based director and writer Nisha Ganatra discusses her time as a graduate film student in New York where she also conceptualized and directed Chutney Popcorn. She also reflects on diversity and representation in the film industry, especially both of queer and South Asian people, noting both the exciting progress that has been made but on the multiple challenges that still remain.
Chutney Popcorn (1999) was one of the first South Asian films to premiere at Outfest, a Los Angeles-based queer film festival. Written by, produced by, and starring Nisha Ganatra, it won the Audience Award that year. At the time, Satrang helped create a community of viewers for this film as well as another set of short queer films, screened under the title "Gulab Jamun," an important step in expanding South Asian visibility. One of the principal participants in Satrang, Sanjay Chhugani, was crucial to the founding of Outfest Fusion QTBIPOC Film Festival. In the next section, you will be able to hear Chhugani speak about his involvement.
"When you make a movie about how you are not accepted, and then it brings you acceptance"
In this interview from summer 2023, the Los Angeles based director and writer Nisha Ganatra discusses her time as a graduate film student in New York where she also conceptualized and directed Chutney Popcorn. She also reflects on diversity and representation in the film industry, especially both of queer and South Asian people, noting both the exciting progress that has been made but on the multiple challenges that still remain.
Curators
Aziz Sohail is a Pakistani-born curator and writer whose research and resultant projects honor and recognise the power of queer & feminist collectivity, sociability, joy and wayward encounter. They are currently a PhD Candidate in Curatorial Practice at Monash University, Australia.
Alexis Bard Johnson is the Curator at the ONE Archives at the USC Libraries. She oversees the exhibitions, programs, and art collection at one of the largest repositories of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer materials in the world. She most recently curated Looking for Lesbians, Six (Linear) Feet and the online exhibition Safer at Home. She holds a PhD in Art History from Stanford University and a BA from Princeton University.