OUR LIVES ... TO LIVE
NO! to gender violence
films of courage, protest, hope
IAWRT is happy to launch a film festival OUR LIVES ... TO LIVE as part of the international ONE BILLION RISING (OBR) campaign
curated by Smriti Nevatia
OUR LIVES ... TO LIVE will screen powerful films that draw us into the lives of women from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Iran, Africa, Australia and South America. We will hear the stories of their oppression and struggles, and share their triumphs and dreams. From classics that mirror to us how little has changed, to a slew of new films offering contemporary insights into gender violence, viewers will discover much to mull over and debate. Discussions led by filmmakers, activists and artists will aim to take us towards a shared feminist consciousness, so that all of us - students, community workers, ordinary citizens (no matter what our gender) - understand the need to say no to violence against women and to all kinds of gender discrimination, while challenging fundamentalisms of every hue.
some highlights of the festival
new films
Saving Face (2012 Academy Award-winning documentary on survivors of acid attacks)
Fighting the Silence: Sexual violence against Women in the Congo (more than 80,000 women and girls were raped int he 7-year war in the Congo - this multiple award winner takes us into the hearts and minds of rape survivors and their families as they come together to demand justice)
Orchid: My Intersex Adventure (this award-winning documentary traces Australian filmmaker Phoebe Hart's voyage of self-discovery as an intersex person)
classics
Something Like a War (a historical overview of India's coercive Family Planning programme and its impact on women)
When Women Unite(a movement against arrack shops that began in villages and spread across Andhra Pradesh)
Bhumika (Smita Patil in one of her most unforgettable roles)
The festival has been organised under the themes
- Our bodies, our rights
- States of mind (what makes normal "normal"?)
- Whose culture is it anyway?
- Forced marriage and compulsory heteronormativity
- Who else faces gender discrimination?
- Sexual harrassment, assault, rape
- Questioning our privileges
- Who's afraid of the F-word?
- Globalisation and "development imperatives"
This film festival along with the programmed discussions is curated on behalf of IAWRT by Smriti Nevatia. Smriti works as a text editor, film researcher and writer, and conducts creative writing and documentary scripting workshops. She has contributed to academic journals and her stories and essays have been published in anthologies of fiction and non-fiction. Her politics, like those of the Bombay-based collectives she belongs to, are autonomous, queer and feminist.
VAW Festival Dates and Venues finalised so far
New Delhi
Goethe-Institut/ Max Mueller Bhavan
Kasturba Gandhi Marg
23 - 25 November 2012
Bengaluru
Goethe-Institut/ Max Mueller Bhavan
716 CMH Road, Indira Nagar 1st stage
23 - 25 November 2012
Thiruvananthapuram
YWCA
MG Road, Opp. AG's office
23 - 25 November 2012
MG Road, Opp. AG's office
23 - 25 November 2012
Thrissur
Vylopilly Hall
Kerala Sahitya Academy
27 - 30 November & 10 December 2012
Kerala Sahitya Academy
27 - 30 November & 10 December 2012
Gwalior
Regional Media Resource Center
Dept. of Women & Child Development
Behind Zila Panchayat Office, Thatipur
29 November - 1 December 2012
Bhopal
BSSS College
Habibganj
2 - 4 December 2012
Mumbai
RR Theatre, 10th Floor
Films Division
54, Dr. G Deshmukh Marg (Pedder Road)
Opposite Jaslok Hospital
7 - 9 December 2012
Pune
Dept of Communication Media for Children
SNDT Women's University Campus
Maharshi Karve Vidyavihar
Karve Road
14 - 15 December 2012
Kolkata
4 - 6 January 2013
Goa
February 2013
Chennai
February 2013
