The third edition of the Hyderabad Queer Film Festival was held on Saturday. Featuring 17 short films in Tamil, English, Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam and Marathi, the Festival saw visitors trickling in slowly during the morning hours, with the numbers peaking towards the afternoon.“It’s great that a lot of people are coming for such film festivals. In fact, I have invited my colleagues from office and my classmates from college, and most of them are expected to come. These films can help remove some of the misconceptions about the LGBT community ,” said one of the visitors Teju N, an HR professional from Begumpet The festival, organised by the Telangana Queer Swabhimana Yatra Collective , was held after a gap of two years. “The film festival is a very important part of the Queer movement in the city. Films have been the main cultural and entertainment outlet for our society. And mainstream cinema so far has portrayed the LGBT community in bad light. People need to see the other side as well. We hoped that mainstream directors would stand up for our cause, but it hasn’t happened. Now queer activists themselves are turning directors and making films. And this is a platform where they can showcase and promote the queer cause to a larger audience,” said Moses Tulasi , the festival director.