Acclaimed independent filmmaker Onir presents this defiant queer romance set against the volatile borderlands of Kashmir, co-written by Fawzia Mirza (The Queen of My Dreams, MGFF24).

Karun, a young security guard from southern India, is posted to a remote village in Kashmir, where he meets Faheem, a Kashmiri student whose quiet warmth disarms him. As an impossible love takes root, the two are caught between faith, national borders and the suffocating masculinity of the institutions that surround them. Yet as their bond deepens, will Karun and Faheem dare to imagine a future together, and choose love in the face of fear and division?

Inspired by a real-life story of a gay army officer, We Are Faheem & Karun confronts the realities of queerness in a region shaped by conflict and conservatism. Quietly radical and deeply human, it is the first Kashmiri-language LGBTIQ+ film – a courageous act of love against inherited hatred.

Filmmaker Onir in attendance for Q&A.

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