What’s it like to be LGBT in Pakistan?

As the closet doors slowly begin to be prised open on LGBT life in the Middle East, a new independent documentary is delving into the hidden lives, history and culture of Pakistan’s suppressed – but thriving – LGBT community.

After years of trying to find participants willing to appear on camera, Poshida: Hidden LGBT Pakistan was filmed on location earlier this year and features a vast range of LGBT identities in a country where same-sex sexual activity is illegal while transgender people are legally protected, but where persecution, prejudice and violence towards all LGBT people is an everyday occurrence.

Poshida – which is currently doing to rounds on the film festival circuit – examines largely unspoken issues of sexuality and gender in Asia and the Middle East, as well troubling emerging issues like the human rights violations of transgender people for entertainment purposes by the country’s fledging TV industry, and the seeming media defence of a Lahori serial killer of gay men in 2014.

While some participants have bravely waived their right to anonymity for the purposes of the film, others have chosen to have their voices and faces hidden for their own safety – including the documentary’s Pakistani film editor, who has chosen to have his contribution to the project remain anonymous.

The filmmakers are currently in negotiations with TV channels for broadcast, but you can watch the full trailer for Poshida below, for a fascinating insight into an LGBT movement still in its infancy:

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