Onir’s We Are Faheem & Karun Earns Top Honour at Reelout Queer Film Festival

Sana Javeid received the Kim Renders Memorial Award for Best Supporting Performance at the 27th ReelOut Queer Film Festival 2026 in Kingston, Ontario, for her role in We Are Faheem & Karun, directed by Onir. The film competed alongside 65 narrative and documentary feature-length and short films from Canada and 15 other countries, making the recognition a significant international honour.

Founded in 1999, the ReelOut Queer Film + Video Festival has grown from grassroots community screenings into a nationally and internationally recognized celebration of 2SLGBTQ+ stories.  "We are Faheem & Karun" is a gay love story set in the Kashmir valley.Karun, a young security guard from southern India, is posted to a remote village in Kashmir, where he meets Faheem, a Kashmiri student whose quiet warmth disarms him. As an impossible love takes root, the two are caught between faith, borders and the suffocating masculinity of the institutions that surround them. Yet as their bond deepens... Quietly radical and deeply human, it is the first queer feature set in Kashmir – a courageous act of love against inherited hatred.

Sana Javeid plays the role of the mother of Faheem who silently accepts her son's sexuality and wants to protect him. A first time actor Onir met Sana in Srinagar where she has a heritage home stay. Her personality struck Onir and when he was searching for an actor he reached out to her. Having two sons of the same age as the characters in the film and having loved doing theatre in School she accepted the role. Onir " So proud of Sana, while working with her in the first schedule I realised how natural she was and I decided to increase her role in the film."After having travelled to over thirty international festival, winning accolades including the " Best director" Award at the UK Asian film Festival, Onir plans to release the film around June 2026.