Alex Sangha

Alex is his nickname and Amar is his birth name and the name he uses in the documentary. Amar is a late forties gay Punjabi Sikh man from suburban Vancouver. He speaks about his coming out journey and the reactions of his parents, including the disapproval he got from certain segments of the broader Punjabi Sikh community, when he came out publicly as a gay Sikh. Amar is the Founder of a non-profit for queer South Asians and friends called Sher Vancouver and is a distinguished social worker and counsellor.

Alex is the founder of the Sher Vancouver LGBTQ Friends Society, which is a social, cultural, and support non-profit organization for LGBTQ South Asians and friends. Sher Films is a division of the Sher Vancouver LGBTQ Friends Society.

Alex has produced an award-winning short documentary film entitled, My Name Was January. Emergence: Out of the Shadows is his debut feature film.

Jaspal Kaur Sangha

Jaspal is the caring and compassionate mother of Alex. She explains the struggle she experienced trying to come to terms with her son’s sexuality. Jaspal raised three boys largely as a single parent and is currently retired and has three beautiful grandchildren. She was born in Punjab, India and shares her authentic self and her courage to share her true feelings around her son being gay and how she tried to reconcile it with her Sikh faith.

Film Synopsis: For Kayden, Jag, and Amar, awakening to and expressing their sexuality within conservative South Asian families was a lonely and terrifying experience. Denial, shame and despair haunted their youths, even threatening their lives. In the feature documentary Emergence: Out of the Shadows, the journeys of Kayden, Jag and Amar converge as they bravely convey their often heart-wrenching stories. Confronted with tradition and taboo, Jag’s parents and Amar’s mother choose love and support for their children, offering courage and inspiration to individuals and communities struggling with acceptance. Emergence is doing the international festival circuit starting in September and has been accepted into festivals in Palm Springs, Atlanta, Chicago, Vancouver, Toronto, Winnipeg, India and more. To learn more about the film and where it is showing, visit emergencefilm.net