The
India Chapter was started in 2005 by the late Jai Chandiram, one of the
earliest women broadcasters in the country and the first Asian President of
IAWRT International.
It
is the largest country chapter with a total of 55 members comprising independent film
makers, media academics, TV producers, researchers, journalists, radio
practitioners, including those associated with electronic and digital media arts and research in cultural and media studies. IAWRT supports media and research projects, film production, projects related to gender mainstreaming and new creative ideas to promote creative thinking and expression.
Current Board of Trustees
Nupur Basu, Managing Trustee
Aparna Sanyal, Secretary
Deepika Sharma, Treasurer
Current Executive board members(trustees) are:
Samina Mishra
Paromita Vohra
Bina Paul
Mausumi Bhattacharyya
Subasri Krishnan
Ananya Chakraborti
In April 2012, the Chapter held its first election for a Board of Trustees.
Reena Mohan, Managing Trustee
Anupama Srinivasan, Secretary
Umadevi Tanuku, Treasurer
Executive board members (trustees) were:
Nupur Basu
Padmaja Shaw
Paromita Vohra
Ratnabali Mitra
Samina Mishra
Founding Trustees
Jai Chandiram, Managing Trustee
Ananya Chatterjee
Chandita Mukherjee
Kvita Joshi
Kiron Bansal
Radhika khanna
Renuka Sharma
ANNUAL ACTIVITY
The
main activity of the Chapter is to organise the annual IAWRT Asian Women's Film
Festival held every year around International Women's Day in New Delhi. It
showcases works by women directors of Asian origin ranging from animation,
documentary, experimental, short fiction to fiction feature.
The
festival was launched in 2005 and has grown in strength and popularity with
film makers coming from all over the world to participate. The festival has
travelled to many Indian cities and selections have been screened at other
festivals like Birds Eye View Film Festival London, International
Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala, Vasakh Festival Lahore, Kashmir Film Festival, International Women's Film Festival -Herat, Kashmir World Film Festival, International Film Festival of Shimla, 100% Human Film Festival, IAWRT Women's Film Festival, Nepal Film Festival, Ranga Shankara Festival, Bangalore, and many more.
Aradhana Kohli Kapur is the Festival Director for the 14th IAWRT Asian Women's Film Festival.
Subasri Krishna was the Festival Director for the 13th IAWRT Asian Women's Film Festival.
Umadevi N. Tanuku was the Festival Director for the 12th IAWRT Asian Women's Film Festival along with Aradhna Kapur Kohl as the Co-Director.
LONG TERM PROJECTS FUNDED
BY IAWRT-FOKUS
The long documentary film Velvet Revolution: Executive Producer and Project Director, Nupur Basu.
This is an exciting collaborative film in which 6 women directors took their lens up-close to women making news and documented profiles of women journalists who have paid a high price for speaking truth to power.
Post Doctoral Research Report Supported by IAWRT- 2015-2016
Mausumi Bhattacharyya received a small grant for her post doctoral research 'Mobile Phone: a new tool to empower rural women in India with special reference to Bolpur-Santiniketan'
Two
major projects funded by IAWRT-FOKUS since 2007 have been from India.
The first is a multi-track
project by Iffat Fatima on Enforced Disappearances where the primary focus has
been:
1)
Advocacy work around issues related to enforced disappearances. These include:
· exploring
national and regional frameworks to secure justice on the issue of EID
· ratification
of the UN convention against disappearances
2)
Production and distribution of media materials
· Documentary
Films
· Audio
Visual Manual
The
Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) has been built from
scratch with support from the project and functions as an advocacy and
documentation centre with more than 1000 members (largely women) from remote
areas of Kashmir becoming advocates of their cause. They have extensively
documented cases of enforced disappearances in accordance with the
international regulations and standards set by the UN.
The
other important component of the project has been in the area of documentation.
APDP has over the years put together an archive of photos, videos and media
products-including, posters, banners, films. These documents are mostly witness
accounts which are an invaluable resource and testimonials for the future. A
web site www.disappearancesinkashmir.org is
also a rich resource for EID. Several documentary films and short videos have
been prepared in course of the project. It includes a half hour film “Where
Have You Hidden My New Moon Crescent” which is being extensively screened in
universities, colleges, seminars and meetings generating discussions on the
issues of EID.
An
80-minute documentary “On A Trail Of Vanished Blood” was premiered at Films
From the South, Oslo 2012, in their special programme section, The Critical
Room.
The
first draft of the audio visual manual on Enforced Disappearances “Legal, By
All Means” was pretested at a workshop in Srinagar. Some new ideas to make the
manual more effective are being incorporated.
The
project is now in the final stage of implementation which will include the
dissemination and distribution of the media products (videos, films, manual).
As part of this process, several workshops were held in Srinagar in June 2013
with APDP and Vrinda Grover as the consulting legal expert.
The second project is
by Ananya C. Chakraborti on Anti-Trafficking. The objective of the
project was not just to make films but to also to use them for social change.
Started
in 2008, the project worked in partnership with Worldview Nepal. A long
documentary "Understanding Trafficking" and a short film "The
Journey" were produced in that year. In the second year, Ananya partnered
with local NGOs from Bengal namely Sanlaap, Sanved, Jabala and Hizliya Janakalyan
Samity. Several workshops were held in the remote villages which have been
documented.
In
2010, Ananya recived a three year grant from FOKUS under their 'Project to
Programme'. This helped immensely in consolidating the work done with the
stakeholders and in 2010 itself, Ananya made
· a short film out of the video documentation
done on the workshops
· 4
anti-trafficking spots
· started
pre-production work on a long documentary
· continued
her village workshops where she used the media material created from the project.
In
2011, Ananya
· made
4 short films on innovative methods of rehabilitation for survivors of
trafficking
· travelled
to Bangladesh to shoot for the long film
· built
up a network with all the stakeholders - BSF, Police, sex workers' union, NGOs etc.
- who started using her work in their advocacy campaigns
· continued
with the workshops.
In
2012, Ananya worked on two long films while also conducting the workshops
- one on the process of trafficking, and the other on her assistant
of many years on this project, a survivor of trafficking herself: Kajal. Both
the films are in their final stage of post production.
IAWRT-FOKUS SCHOLARSHIPS
In
2012, two members of the India Chapter were awarded Production Grants for 5
minute films. The topic was CHANGEMAKERS—about women who are taking a stand on
local, regional and international issues, asking difficult questions and
finding new solutions to the problems of our times. The grantees were
• Geeta
Sahai for a film titled ''I Have A Dream...'' about Kavita Kumar giving hope to
mentally challenged children live a life of dignity in India.
• Leena
Manimekalai for a film on Dayamani Barla, the first Adivasi journalist
from Jharkhand who fought India’s largest steel plant with a mass
movement and a tireless stride.
In
2010, Vani Subramanian made a 5 minute short ''Yeh Hai DIlli Mere
Yaar" (This is Delhi, My Friend) that explores the notion of safety among
women in Delhi.
In
2009, Ananya C. Chakraborti made a five minute film on Mamata Banerjee as
part of the project of shorts on political empowerment of women.
In
2006, two scholarships were awarded to
· Shikha
Jhingan to work on the 'History of the Female Voice in Hindi Film Songs'.
· Ratnabali
Mitra to produce a manual on 'Science Reporting with a Gender
Perspective'.
If
you would like to become a member of the IAWRT India Chapter, please write to
the Managing Trustee at archana.iawrt@gmail.com
