NEW DELHI:  Raj Amit Kumar’s new film Unfreedom, which has been banned in India, will be released in North American theaters on 29 May and simultaneously on digital channels via Film Buff. 

The film is being distributed by Dark Frames, founded by Kumar, which is dedicated to bringing high-quality, non-Bollywood Indian films to North American and international audiences through theatrical and digital channels.

Veteran film marketer and distributor Mark Urman of Paladin is partnering with Dark Frames to lead the marketing and distribution of Unfreedom. 

The film was banned in India, where homosexuality was criminalized in 2013, by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) rendering much of its content too controversial for general audiences. Kumar is mounting an appeal at the same time that he is launching a crowd-funding campaign to finance a release in India via alternative methods.

Unfreedom tells two powerful and unflinching contemporary stories about religious fundamentalism and intolerance that ultimately come merge. Shifting between New York and New Delhi, one tale follows a Muslim terrorist who kidnaps a liberal Muslim scholar in order to silence him, while the other charts the travails of a young woman whose devout father tries to force her into an arranged marriage which she resists because she is secretly in love with another woman. The four characters come face to face with gruesome acts of violence in battles of identity, sexuality, religion, love, and family.

Written and directed by Kumar, the film stars Victor Banerjee, Bhanu Uday, Bhavani Lee, Preeti Gupta, Seema Rahmani, Ankur Vikal, Samrat Chakrabarti and Adil Hussain.