Family Values
In this comedy drama, a trans South Asian person visits their family for Rakhi, a Hindu religious ceremony that symbolizes the bond between brothers and sisters. Celebrating a ceremony that is so centered around gender, this non-binary character must reconcile their gender identity with their deeply rooted family values.
This project is an homage to the two communities that provided me with a sense of belonging and comfort as I found my place in this world. The solidarity I have received from the 2SLGBTQ+ community and cultural
values I have inherited from my family, shape the person and filmmaker I am growing into today.
One of the most challenging parts of coming out as Queer/Trans was the blatant prejudice towards the Queer community from the South Asian community. I have felt this prejudice firsthand from some family members,
there is a clear discomfort caused within them because of my presence. This is not a fault of my family, rather it is because they are taught to follow a model of family values and maintain it from generation to
generation. These values often carry prejudice within them, as people tend to become so tied to their roots, they have left no space to grow and make room for things they are not used to. There is no room for queerness within generational trauma. Queerness approaches living life in a way that feels authentic to you, to thrive. Because of the consequences of colonization, my people spent their lives trying to survive, thriving was
not even in the question.
Queerness is something generations of my family hasn’t seen before,because of prejudices that began centuries ago, queerness has beenerased from my people’s history. The struggles and lessons of myQueer/Trans ancestors has been taken from me. That puts people like mein a position where I have to pave a path for what it looks like to be Queerand South Asian. The first openly queer people in families are burdenedwith the task of normalizing their own existence within their families. Thisfilm is about the discomfort involved in challenging the prejudicesembedded in deeply rooted family values.
