Pride in Surrey Shines Through

This special and inclusive day is certain to overflow your rainbow cup with love!

*If you are experiencing financial barriers but still wish to attend, we want you to be there! Please contact us at civictheatres@surrey.ca and we will be happy to set a ticket aside for you.

Pride in Surrey Event Schedule

• 1:00 – 2:00pm: Enjoy a reception in the City Hall atrium as well as a digital exhibition in Centre Stage, featuring collections documenting Surrey’s 2SLGBTQ+ history, courtesy of Surrey Archives.
• 2:00pm – 3:20pm: Screening of the film Emergence.
• 3:30pm – 4:00pm: Panel discussion with Emergence filmmakers and cast.
• 4:00pm – 4:30pm: Meet and greet with filmmakers and cast.
• 7:00 – 9:00pm: The Rainbow Flame: Pride Storytelling Event, curated by Deb Williams.

Emergence: Out of the Shadows

A Sher Vancouver Feature Documentary

Emergence: Out of the Shadows

A film by Vinay Giridhar

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. Yet, they’ve emerged.

In the gripping feature documentary Emergence: Out of the Shadows, the disparate journeys of Kayden, Jag and Amar candidly converge around a shared sense of compassion and healing as they bravely convey their often heart-wrenching stories. Confronted with tradition and taboo in their Punjabi Sikh cultures, resisting silence, Jag’s parents and Amar’s mother choose love over rejection, offering courage and inspiration to individuals and communities struggling with acceptance.

Tender, thoughtful and teary, Emergence: Out of the Shadows asserts a potent and transformative voice in support of marginalized queer youth and their families.

Age rating and audience advisory: 15+. Some minor discussion of suicidal ideation and sexual abuse.

The Rainbow Flame Pride Storytelling Event

Celebrate Pride in Surrey at The Rainbow Flame Pride Storytelling Event. A raft of diverse, talented, new, and established storytellers from the LGBTQ2S+ community will share part of their lives, all with some original music stirred in.

Funny, gripping, poignant and embarrassing; true stories told by the people who lived them.  This Flame event will be an evening that's human and entertaining. Hosted by the Flame’s Artistic Producer, Deb Williams, and friends, this will be a safe, inclusive, and exciting performance for you, your friends, and family.

Age rating: The Rainbow Flame is 16+.

Emergence Director’s Statement: Vinay Giridhar

Emergence: Out of the Shadows can help you understand the lived experiences and unique challenges faced by gay and lesbian members of the South Asian community in Metro Vancouver. I learned that society tends to alienate, marginalize, and even fetishize people of colour, especially members of the LGBTQ community. What makes Emergence: Out of the Shadows different is the fact that the film provides a rare insight and voice for the parents of gay and lesbian South Asians. The parents address how “coming out” is not only life-changing for their children but also life-altering for the parents who are left with broken dreams and unanswered questions. The film acknowledges the important and extraordinary courage of both the parents and their children in their willingness to fight the traditions and taboos of society. This includes the “shame” they feel in coming out and their very real and heartbreaking fear of rejection by their close-knit friends, family members and community.

The film focuses on the rights of these individuals to live an open and respectable life despite traditional and often strict family values and socio-cultural pressures. The parents and their children describe their struggles to understand and “emerge” together to embrace, love, and support each other, and reach a higher level of critical awareness and compassion.

Production Company –  Sher Films (A Division of the Sher Vancouver LGBTQ Friends Society)

Producer – Alex Sangha

Director – Vinay Giridhar

Director of Photography – Christine Michelle Lord

Additional Cinematography – Bhavesh Chauhan

Cast – Jaspal Kaur Sangha (Parent)

Cast – Amar Sangha

Cast – Kayden Bhangu

Cast – Jag Nagra

Cast – Avtar Singh Nagra (Parent)

Cast – Rajwant Kaur Nagra (Parent)

Cast – Harv Nagra

About The Flame

The Flame began in Deb Williams and Bruce Kennedys’ east Vancouver living room in 2009. Together with co-creator Joel Wirkkunen, they invited 20 people to each share a personal true story. In return, the tellers were offered wine, cheese, and a warm place to gather. The storytellers, mostly professional performers, arrived self-conscious with acute stage fright. They told their stories, heard others, and left exhilarated; filled, and wanting more.

The Flame caught fire. In the thirteen years since, the Flame has enjoyed numerous successes, including being a monthly live storytelling event at Main Street's iconic Cottage Bistro, The Flame has also travelled to other theatres across BC including the Belfry Theatre, Massey Theatre, Surrey Civic Theatres and the Cultch. The Flame produced five holiday TV specials with Metro Vancouver, based on the theme of "creating memories, not garbage." Many Flame stories were played on stories on CBC Radio and became a series hosted by Martin Strong on Railway Radio. 

​The Flame continues to grow and change; co-founder, Joel Wirkkunen, moved on to other creative projects. The pandemic forced live performance online and Eugene Dong to sell the Cottage Bistro. Deb Williams began to teach and produce The Flame online in conjunction with arts organizations and partnering with other not-for-profit groups. Now that restrictions are being lifted, Deb is delighted to be tending the Flame in person once again.