WOMEN, MEDIA AND
SOCIETY : TRANSFORMATIONS
IAWRT-IIC Asia Project
7-8 March 2006
IIC Auditorium
New Delhi
The International Association Of Women in
Radio and Television (IAWRT) and the India
International Center (IIC) Asia project
celebrated the vision of women with the
festival, ‘Women: Media and Society:
Transformations’ – a unique documentary
festival by Asian Women film makers.
This was the second festival organized by
IAWRT in New Delhi to mark the International
Women’s Day. Last year, the festival,
“Expressions in Freedom”, had an
enthusiastic response from filmmakers and
the media student community and this
encouraged the IIC-Asia Project and IAWRT to
collaborate again for this festival.
Over a 100 films were received from all over
the world making the jury’s task pleasurable
and a nightmare. The films covered the
themes identity, conflict, traditions,
relationships and sexuality. The edge of
these films was the powerful stories,
exploration of forms and personal expressive
styles of filmmakers who are breaking real
boundaries.
There was humour, sensitivity and
perspectives on the personal and political
which challenge beliefs and views. Gitanjali
Rao’s Printed Rainbow, released the
imagination of the viewers as they traveled
with a lovable lonely women on adventures.
The cinematic language was energized with
powerful stories, voices and images. The
images of male and female puppet swirling in
a washing machine was compelling and
stimulating as the state of marriage is
discussed! These films were not about the
either /or status of women but about the
rich cultural milieu and the limited options
that women are confined to by society. Saudi
women question the “tash ma tash” against
oppressive traditions and learn to use the
media to question these limits. Powerful
documentation against honor killings.
Izzat or Love made a distinction between
arranged marriage and forced marriage ...
impacting change in the legislation in
Britain.
In Where’s Sandra, and who is she?
you ask the question: Is she a fantasy of a
racy Christian girl from Bandra created by
Bollowood who likes to wear a skirt and
dance?
Shaswati Talukadar’s opening film My Life
As a Poster debates the cultural
representation exploring posters and popular
visual icons with pathos, humor and the
pervasive violence in our lives, breaking
barriers of form and content and packing a
lot in 8 minutes.
In these works by women film makers there is
a vibrant diversity, and strong messages
never seen earlier, that are reflected
through experimentation in form and content.
Frames are enlarged, reclaiming freedom,
creating magic, using the media for internal
journeys documenting the changes and the
complexity of our society.
The two days saw distinguished filmmakers
and academics come together to discuss form,
content and approaches to film making. They
spoke about the trends in popular media and
the impact of the soaps in our lives. They
raised their voices against the oppressive
state machinery and violence.
Irom Sharmila’s hunger strike for five
years, her weapon, her body, protests
against repressive laws in Manipur.
The festival films will also travel to
cities in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
The films will be housed in the new Women‘s
Media Research Center (WMRC) at IGNOU. This
center is supported by UNESCO, IGNOU and
IAWRT. The films will be available for non
commercial screening and study purposes.
IAWRT, an NGO networks professional women in
media, holds conferences, offers scholarship
and supports media projects. Currently the
major project is on violence and women
enabling filmmakers to work with NGO’s to
develop programs to be used for training and
conscious raising.
|
A selection of images
from
the IAWRT-ICC Asia Project |
