EMERGENCE: ​Out of the Shadows

In traditional Lunar New Year celebrations, family is the centerpiece. But family can be a complicated space to navigate. LunarFest has always been invested in welcoming everyone into the family, from communities who celebrate the Lunar New Year to communities that share similar goals of conservation, and of course, the LGBTQ community. We invite you to listen to the stories of these LGBTQ South Asians. Through sharing our experiences and appreciating our diversity, we can truly be Together, Stronger!

For Kayden, Jag, and Amar, awakening to and expressing their sexuality within conservative South Asian families was a lonely and terrifying experience. Denial, shame and despair haunted their youths, even threatening their lives. Yet, they’ve emerged. In the gripping feature documentary Emergence: Out of the Shadows, the disparate journeys of Kayden, Jag and Amar candidly converge around a shared sense of compassion and healing as they bravely convey their often heart-wrenching stories. Confronted with tradition and taboo in their Punjabi Sikh cultures, resisting silence, Jag’s parents and Amar’s mother choose love over rejection, offering courage and inspiration to individuals and communities struggling with acceptance. Tender, thoughtful and teary, Emergence: Out of the Shadows asserts a potent and transformative voice in support of marginalized queer youth and their families.