Screening and Panel Discussion | Unfolding Memory: Many People, Many Desires

The Queer Archive for Memory Reflection and Activism (QAMRA), housed at NLSIU, is screening independent filmmaker T Jayashree’s ‘Many People, Many Desires’ (2004) on June 29, 2025. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with T Jayashree and other members of QAMRA – Mira Brunner and Dr. Siddharth Narrain. The session is part of Bangalore International Centre’s Pride Programmes.

Session Timings: 7 to 8:30 PM
Screening Duration: 45 minutes
Panel:
1. T Jayashree, Filmmaker & Co-Founder, QAMRA
2. Mira Brunner, Chief Archivist, QAMRA
3. Dr. Siddharth Narrain, Faculty In-charge, QAMRA, and Assistant Professor of Law, National Law School of India University, Bengaluru
RSVP: Click here

About the film

‘Many People, Many Desires‘ is centred around the interviews of many members of the LGBTQ community in Bengaluru at the time of the shooting (2004). The film was shot entirely in a MiniDV tape format. Starting from an exploration of sexuality and human rights, it allows the viewer to hear the first-person narratives of some of those who were engaged with the sexuality movement of the time – whose work is instrumental for the fight for legal rights for queer people in India.

Using legal discrimination against sexual minorities as its starting point, the film explores the relationship between class, sexuality, and gender. The film captures early years in the movement against Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, a colonial law which criminalized homosexual behaviour and has now, through efforts which included some of those interviewed in the film, been read down.

The panel will talk about what has changed, what has remained the same, and QAMRA’s (the Queer Archive of Memory, Reflection, and Activism) attempts to preserve this history. They will discuss their perspectives on archiving queer material and the responsibilities of preserving what is still in living memory.

About QAMRA

QAMRA is a multimedia archival project that chronicles and preserves the stories of communities marginalised on the basis of gender and sexuality in India. Its aim is to aid efforts in queer rights advocacy through archival activism, acting as a resource base for activists, students, educators, artists, and scholars working in the area of gender and sexuality. As a repository of narratives, it hopes to enable and further conversations around the history, present, and future of the Indian LGBTQIA+ community.