A Celebration of Trans Joy and Belonging: Screening of Amma's Pride

A Celebration of Trans Joy and Belonging: Screening of Amma's Pride

Join us for an evening hosted by Satrang, celebrating love, family, and the power of storytelling as Amma's Pride comes to Los Angeles. The night will open with a stand-up poetry performance, followed by a screening of the Oscar-qualified short documentary Amma's Pride. The event will conclude with a panel conversation featuring Sundeep Morrison (non-binary, Punjabi Sikh, Canadian writer, director, and actor), Seema Hari (non-binary software engineer and multi-hyphenated artist), and D'Lo (transgender Ilankai Tamil-American performer, writer, community activist, and producer of the film), addressing urgent and critical issues that the trans community faces.

Event Partners
Satrang, Asian Women Giving Circle, and Amma’s Pride Team.

Event Starts Promptly at 2:30 pm

• Warm welcome by Satrang
• Opening Act Poetry recitation
• Film Screening: Amma's Pride chronicles Valli’s unwavering support for her trans daughter, Srija, as Srija fights for legal recognition of her marriage in a traditional South Indian town.
• Panel Discussion

About

Satrang serves the South Asian LGBTQ community of Southern California by promoting awareness, acceptance, and empowerment through social, educational, and advocacy-related events. They envision an inclusive and visible community in which South Asian LGBTQ-identified people feel whole and heard.

D'Lo [Producer, Amma's Pride] (He/They) is a queer/transgender Tamil-Sri Lankan-American activist/writer/performer whose work ranges from community education and workshops to stand-up comedy, film, television and music production. His work has been published in various anthologies and academic journals, including: Desi Rap: Hip Hop and South Asia America and Experiments in a Jazz Aesthetic (co-edited by Sharon Bridgforth) and Troubling the Line: Trans and Genderqueer Poetry and Poetics. He is currently part of QORE, a Queer South Asian Comedic Artists Collective, created in response to the rising ideology of intolerance both in Modi's India and Trump's America. His TV/film credits include co-starring in the HBO series LOOKING as Taj, on the Amazon series TRANSPARENT, the Netflix series SENSE 8 and USA’s Mr. ROBOT. He has been featured as an artist and expert in The Guardian, NBC, The Advocate, and on CNN. D’Lo is the creator of the “Coming Out, Coming Home” writing workshop series, which has taken place with South Asian and/or Immigrant LGBTQ Organizations nationally, providing a transformative space for workshop participants to write through their personal narratives and share their truths through a public reading.

Shiva Krish [Director, Producer, Amma's Pride] (He/Him)began his career as an assistant director on the Tamil feature ORU NAAL IRAVIL. His volunteer work during the 2015 Chennai floods led to collaborations with nonprofits and the making of short documentaries on demonetization in India and schizophrenia. He later served as first assistant director on HARMONY WITH A. R. RAHMAN, an acclaimed Amazon Prime Video series. AMMA'S PRIDE marks his debut as an independent documentary filmmaker.

Seema Hari (They/Them)is a US-based non-binary software engineer and multi-hyphenated artist and one of the leading South Asian activists against colorism. Their work towards representing dark-skinned Indians in the modeling world aims at breaking the stigma around dark skin and reclaiming the idea of being beautiful. Not just through modeling, Seema raises their voice against colorism by also rightfully calling out ‘brownface’ in Bollywood films, skin-lightening products like Fair & Lovely, and the deep-rooted Anti-Blackness in South Asian communities. They believe art is the ultimate expression of the self, which makes activism their art—rooted in their multidimensional self and pouring out through multiple mediums like photographs, music, poetry, and cinema.

Sundeep Morison(they/them) is an award-winning queer, non-binary, Panjabi Sikh, Canadian actor, writer, and director. Recently, Sundeep starred in the Oscar-qualifying short film FLIGHT 182, written and directed by Rippin Sindher and executive produced by former Academy President Janet Yang and Emmy winner Archie Panjabi. They were recognized as an emerging Indian filmmaker during the world premiere of their short film Your Love at the KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival. Sundeep also received the award for Best Drama at United Solo in New York for their solo show RAG HEAD An American Story. A recipient of the Disruptors TV Writing Fellowship, they were proud to be part of the Trans and Non-Binary cohort. A graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York, their work focuses on themes of social justice, sexuality, and gender. As a child of Punjabi Sikh immigrants, Sundeep is dedicated to storytelling that explores the beautiful and, at times, painful complexities of growing up with deep Eastern roots in a Western world.