ANITA SAYS.....

We believe in championing all beauty,
Living with courage,
And standing fearlessly together
To celebrate our differences

Even if we stumble
We will never stop
Building a community where
Diversity if expected
Self expression is honoured
And YOU are included

- Hoardings inside SEPHORA make up stores in NYC to mark PRIDE MONTH



Are we already at the half way mark of the year?

We are just getting the hang of readjusting to a post-Covid world. The murmurs of yet another wave looming is not a dampener for the majority who are travelling and vacationing with a vengeance.

In New York City, where I visited for a brief 7 days, masks were off but theatres were still asking for Vaccination proof as well as masking up indoors. The streets, bars, stores, cinema halls, Broadway theatres, ballet and opera houses and auditoriums were completely packed with tourists and many Americans who were travelling to the Big Apple after two years. It was lovely to feel the electric vibe of this city pumping again.

June is PRIDE MONTH and yet another opportunity for each of us in the creative industries to stop and take a look at our own lives and to examine how inclusive we have been over the past two years. I think of all those non binary artistes - some of whom are lucky to have found their soul mates and others who are still struggling for visibility and connections. As an ally, all I can say is "I see you. I hear you."

As if on cue, the Pakistani Trans drama JOYLAND won the QUEER PALM awards at the Cannes Film Festival. Directed by Salim Sadiq, the film tells the story of a son of a patriarchal family who is expected to marry and produce a child. Instead, he joins an erotic dance theatre company and falls for the troupe's director, a trans woman.
Read on...