(Hansal Mehta, 2015, India, 114mins) Premiering to a standing ovation at the Busan Film Festival, Aligarh is a heartfelt demand for the right to love — a right that no court should be able to deny.

Director Hansal Mehta and screenwriter Apurva Asrani find inspiration in the true story of Dr. Shrinivas Ramchandra Siras, a linguistics professor at Aligarh University who faced suspension and possible termination due to his sexual orientation. Though many supporters rally to Siras’ cause, including a dedicated journalist played with great panache by Rajkummar Rao, Manoj Bajpayee paints a portrait of the doctor as a gentle man more concerned with the beauty of life and love, than with courtroom battles.

One of the most vital films to come out of India in recent years, especially when both the right to privacy and queer rights are at increasingly at risk all over the world (homosexuality was recriminalized in India in 2014), Aligarh is a poetic call to transcend identity.