Pratibha Parmar: Disrupting Paradigms

This screening and discussion with filmmaker and activist Pratibha Parmar focuses on two of her short films commissioned by Channel 4 for Out on Tuesday (later OUT), the world’s first nationally networked television series aimed at a gay and lesbian audience. Khush (1991) and Double The Trouble, Twice The Fun (1992) are two early examples of Parmar’s groundbreaking film practice, which has been raising issues central to feminism for over four decades: ‘My passion is firmly focused at the intersections of art and social justice. I have always been compelled to tell stories of people relegated to the margins of mainstream culture. I get excited by collaborating with like-minded humans creating moving images, building different kinds of worlds and possibilities and disrupting existing paradigms.’ 

Screening

Khush (1991)

Pratibha Parmar | UK, 24 minutes

Khush means ecstatic pleasure in Urdu. For South Asian lesbians and gay men in Britain, North America, and India the term captures the blissful intricacies of being queer and of color. Inspiring testimonies bridge geographical differences to locate shared experiences of isolation alongside the unremitting joys and solidarity of being “khush”.

Double The Trouble, Twice The Fun (1992)

Pratibha Parmar | UK, 24 minutes

Made with UK disability arts communities, this documentary drama explores issues around sexuality and disability. Interviews with a wide range of disabled lesbian and gay people are intercut with recreations and performances, dispelling the myth that all disabled people are unhappy or have no sexual identity. It also looks at the difficulties of enduring prejudice as both a disabled and gay person.

PLACES ARE LIMITED & BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL!

You can reserve a free place here.

Access

Goldsmiths CCA has step-free, no-step access to the venue. More detailed accessibility information is available via the CCA website.  We are keen to support visitors with any specific requirements regarding their attendance. If you would like to request assistance or discuss access, contact the CCA office; goldsmithscca [@] gold.ac.uk or FDRG feministduration [@] gmail.com

Bio

Pratibha Parmar’s films have shaped the politics of feminist, queer, and diasporic visual cultures for over four decades. From experimental shorts to activist documentaries and feature-length works, Parmar’s cinematic language operates as an act of visual justice. Her practice engages the image as a site of struggle—challenging the power relations that determine who is seen, how they are represented, and what forms of visual expression are made possible. Her films are a site of narrative transformation, where memory, activism, and artistic expression converge to resist erasure and imagine new futures. Parmar was a Visiting Artist at Stanford University (2014) and also an Associate Professor in the Film Program at California College of the Arts, San Francisco (2014-2021); and is a published author and editor of several anthologies. The Institute of Contemporary Arts  (ICA London) and Sming Sming Books (U.S.) published, Our Eyes as Commonly Tender: Visual Justice in the Filmmaking of Pratibha Parmar edited by Nydia Swaby & Pratibha Parmar in 2025.

Booking

You can book a free place here.

THIS EVENT IS BOUND TO BE POPULAR. ADVANCE BOOKING IS RECOMMENDED!

Feminist Duration Reading Group

This event is organised by Beth Bramich as part of the Feminist Duration Reading Group’s residency at Goldsmith CCA, and is supported by a British Art Network Bursary.

As ever, FDRG events are open to feminists of all generations and genders. No advance preparation is required as we will watch Parmar’s film, and read out loud from the text, together on the day.

Image:

Still from Khush (Pratibha Parmar, 1991). Courtesy of the artist and Kali Films.