It has been a matter of pride for the India Chapter to have Ananya Chakraborti , a founding member of the India Chapter, on the International Board for IAWRT for six years, four years as Treasurer and two years asn Vice-President. In the recently held elections in Manila, Ananya lost to Violet Gonda for the post of President. We wish Ananya the very best in her work as the Chairperson of West Bengal National Commission for Protection of Child Rights. She has alredy started a fortnightly new letter and we wish her the very best in all that she does.
Archana Kapoor elected as a member of the IAWRT International Board
Archana Kapoor, Managing Trustee of India Chapter was elected as a member of the International Board. We hope that she will be able to meet the expectations of all IAWRTians across the globe.
India Chapter awarded two projects for its Chapter Activities
Anjali Monteiro will be organising a workshop in TISS.
Unpacking the Media- Exploring Gendered Identities
A Workshop on Critical Media Education and Production
In our contemporary culture, the media plays an increasingly important role in the formation of our identities, particularly in the urban context. Notions of normality, of good and evil, of roles for men and women, of socially sanctioned gender equations of power— all these are reproduced and amplified by the mainstream media. However, this influence is never one-way or uniform. The media also offers spaces for alternative identities and contestations of power. Today, as never before, with new media and information technologies, viewers can use the space of the media in various ways to speak truth to power, to form groups around agendas of their own and to participate in campaigns. It is this aspect that the workshop will focus upon, working with college going youth who are media students in order to enhance their sensitivity to gender and media issues and to facilitate their production and web publication of gender related materials.
about the reaction from the community and to share stories of “backlash” based on media reporting.
Mausumi Bhattacharya awarded the FOKUS scholarship
Heartiest congratulations, Mausumi Bhattacharya, for being awarded the FOKUS scholarship for your post doctoral research work on MOBILE PHONE: A NEW TOOL TO EMPOWER RURAL WOMEN IN INDIA WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON BOLPUR, SANTINIKETAN.
Wishing you all the very best with the project.
IAWRT India Chapter at the Herat International Women's Film Festival 2014
IAWRT Regional Conference in Granada, Nicargua, 17-19 November 2014
Samina Mishra will be representing the India Chapter at the upcoming IAWRT Regional Conference to be held in Granada, Nicaragua from 17-19 November 2014.SOUNDPHILES at the Dharamshala International Film Festival 2014
Soundphiles, a celebration of listening which had its first edition at the 10th IAWRT’s Asian Womens Film Festival, is being presented at the Dharamshala International Film Festival 2014 (October 30 - November 2). Samina Mishra will be presenting the programme at DIFF.November 1, 4 pm | Club House 2
November 2, 11 am | Club House 2
See a list of featured artists on the Soundphiles blog.
Usha Bhasin recently appointed Board Member of the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association
The CBA is the world’s largest association of public broadcasters. They provide a leading forum for knowledge exchange, and support members in the changing digital media landscape.
Usha Bhasin has worked for India’s Public Service Broadcaster, Prasar Bharati, since 1975, when she joined All India Radio. In 1998 she started with the broadcaster’s TV arm, Doordarshan (DD).
Prior to her current role as Channel Head, Art and Culture, Doordashan, she was Additional Director-General of DD. Her pioneering work using broadcasting to promote social change has been awarded and recognised by several UN bodies and broadcasting organisations such as the Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development and the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union.
She has also published two books on Public Service Broadcasting.
IAWRT Regional Conference in Istanbul, 29-30 May 2014
IAWRT is holding its next Regional Conference in Istanbul, Turkey from 29 to 30 May, in partnership with The Association of Documentary Filmmakers of Turkey. IAWRT has in recent months, made inroads into North Africa having successfully held conferences in Tunisia and Morocco, and continues to extend its network in the Arab region and Middle Eastern countries. Plans are underway to hold the IAWRT’s first ever safety training at the event. Unfortunately as this is a regional conference funding is only available to select members in the region and Chapter heads. Reena Mohan will be representing the India Chapter.
India Chapter Trustee Paromita Vohra's TV serial ''Connected Hum Tum'' airs on Zee TV
India Chapter Trustee, Paromita Vohra's (based in Mumbai) TV serial ''Connected Hum Tum'' is currently airing on Zee TV at 10 pm from Monday to Friday.
''Connected Hum Tum'' is based on an Israeli TV show. It features the personal stories of 6 women who are at a crossroads. "We gave them handycams with which they shot their own lives as they arrived at a decision, made a choice that would resolve their dilemmas", says Paromita. "A highly experimental format, it was all the more challenging to create it for Indian television where the programming consists solely of broad soap operas and sensational reality shows." The format combined fiction, non-fiction, soap and documentary aside from the tremendous challenges in narrativising and editing 1500 hours of self-shot material.
Aside from its many creative and production challenges, it was also a kind of giant training ground for all who worked on it to evolve the language for the show because the detailing and layering involved are not common in Indian TV yet.
We are looking for funding the logistics for the BOL children to Busan. Please go through the their story here and if possible, share their passion and dreams with whatever contribution you can make.
To know more click here.
The show has done extremely well in what could be described as a wide niche audience. Perhaps it's most interesting impact was that it featured a young lesbian woman and dilemmas around her love life - the first time ever in Indian mainstream media. This has led to a rush of positive responses from the LGBTQ community - including this open letter.
The relevance of the program was that for the first time on Indian TV there is a highly interiorised personal narrative of women - which portrays them not as women in family roles but as individuals too, albeit contending with many family dynamics. And also, that it does not portray the women as victims or heroes but tells their stories in their voices, experientially, novelistically. Such a strong female POV has not really been seen on Indian TV before, within an entertainment format - although Indian TV primarily features female protagonists in soaps.
Wonderful update from one of our youngest - and newest - IAWRT members
Dear Friends,
With great pleasure BOL announces that Six of BOL films made by children have been nominated at the 8th Busan International Kids Film Festival at South Korea, commencing from 24th July, 2013. The children, who are mostly from remote villages in India have also been invited to share their experience about film-making.
Wonderful update from one of our youngest - and newest - IAWRT members
We are looking for funding the logistics for the BOL children to Busan. Please go through the their story here and if possible, share their passion and dreams with whatever contribution you can make.
To know more click here.
