Report of Launch of One Billion Rising (OBR) Function by Akshara, Mumbai on 28-11-2012 The OBR began as a call to action based on the staggering UN statistics that 1 in 3 women on the planet will be beaten or raped during her lifetime. With the world population at 7 billion, this adds up to more than ONE BILLION WOMEN AND GIRLS. The campaign is growing every day in the lead up to February 14, 2013, with women and men around the world signing on. To date, thousands of activists, over 13,000 organizations around the globe, and 176 countries have committed to participate and hold events. When we heard of the One Billion Rising Campaign, we felt that it will help us in spreading the issue of violence against women and bring greater attention to it. Akshara along with SANGAT lauched its OBR campaign on 28-11-2012 at Films Division, Pedder Road, Mumbai which began with Felicitation of Activists of the Women’s Movement in Mumbai who have over the years worked for the justice for women, by Shabana Azmi by giving the felicitation trophy to them. Seven Women and one man felicitated were: Anjali Dave, Flavia Agnes, Hasina Khan, Jason Temasfieldt, Jyoti Mhapsekar, Sugandhi Francis, Urmila Pawar, Vibhuti Patel. After this, the film festival was launched by Rahul Bose “Our Lives… to Live” with the premiere of Gulabi Gang, a film by Nishtha Jain, on a women’s group in dacoit infested Bundelkhand and their efforts to end violence in their lives. Prior to that, the first short film by Eve Enslar was screened on One Billion Rising that charged the atmosphere with gusto. Rahul Bose and Kalpana Sharma, senior journalist led the discussion on the film with a question answer session with the director Nishta Jain.

1. OUR LIVES...TO LIVE 7-9
December
NO! to gender violence 2012
films of courage, protest, hope Mumbai
Venue: RR Theatre, 10th Floor, Films Division, 24 Dr G Deshmukh Marg (Peddar Rd), Mumbai-400026
FRIDAY 07 DECEMBER
Time Film Duration Country
(Min)
11:00 am INAUGURATION 10
11:10 am One Billion Rising Eve Ensler, Tony Stroebel 3
An inspiring music video for the One Billion Rising
campaign: women worldwide rising up against all
kinds of violence.
FOCUS: Violence Against Girls and Young Women
11:15 am A DAY IN THE LIFE OF RAHELA Dil Afruz Zeerak 27 Afghanistan
13-year-old Rahela lives on one of the steep hillsides in
Kabul. Every day she hauls up canisters of water from the
plains to help support her family and pay for her schooling.
11:45 am KAVERI Shilpa Munikempanna 18 India
13-year-old Kaveri’s carefree world is threatened the day
she reaches puberty. Her education will either come to an
end or she will be married off.
12:00 pm 1977 Peque Varela 8 UK
Animation merges with personal photographs to tell the
story of a girl in a conservative community struggling to
come to terms with her gender identity.
12:10 pm SARABAH Maria Luisa Gambale, Gloria Bremer 60 USA-Senegal
Rapper, singer and activist Sister Fa, a childhood victim
of female genital cutting (FGC), travels back to her home
village in Senegal, where she fears she and her message
against the practice will be rejected. Yet she speaks out
passionately to female elders and students alike, and stages
a rousing concert that has the community on its feet.
01:10 pm Discussion with Sonal Shukla and Nandita Shah 20
01:30 pm LUNCH

2. FOCUS: Women ANd public spaces
02:30 pm IS IT JUST A GAME? II Shakuntala Kulkarni 3 India
In this artist’s video, a game of kabbadi becomes a
metaphor to address and challenge issues of power versus
victimization, violence and viciousness, within the
politics of gender.
02:35 pm THE ghetto girl Ambarien Al Qadar 37 India
In what is also known as India’s “Little Pakistan” in
New Delhi, a girl searches for a lost home movie.
The search takes her into the mapless lanes of the place
she calls home.
03:10 pm JOR SE BOL Samata Jadhav, Pradeep Paralkar, Amol 20 India
Lalzare and Yashodhara Salve
Street sexual harassment is experienced by the majority of
women. Women feel harassed, angry and frustrated. There
are laws against it, but it continues. This video explores the
reactions of young men and women.
03:30 pm Inside out Divya Cowasji, Shilpi Gulati 26 India
Even in the 21st century, in a city as liberal and safe as
Mumbai, women’s access to public space is limited.
The film brings out the experiences of different women,
and addresses women’s need to reclaim, or claim,
an unfettered access.
04:00 pm Discussion with Shilpa Phadke, Nandita Gandhi and 30
filmmakers
04:30 pm MY LETTER TO PIPPA Bingöl Elmas 60 Turkey-
In 2008, Pippa Bacca embarked on a hitch-hiking expedition France
from Rome to the Middle East to promote world peace.
She disappeared outside Istanbul. Her raped body was
later recovered. In this road documentary, Kurdish director
Bingöl Elmas undertakes to continue the journey.
05:30 pm BREAK
FOCUS: Taboos and Restrictions
05:50 pm BEYOND THE WHEEL Rajula Shah 59 India
The film takes a look at three women in Indian pottery,
across rural-urban and modern-traditional divides, with
reference to the taboo of the wheel.

3. 06:50 pm GOING UP THE STAIRS: PORTRAIT OF AN UNLIKELY 51 Iran
IRANIAN ARTIST Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami
When Akram, an illiterate 50-year-old Iranian woman,
became a painter unexpectedly, she hid her work from
possibly disapproving eyes. Now her children have arranged
an exhibition in Paris, but she must obtain permission from
her husband in order to attend.
07:40 pm BREAK
08:00 pm One Billion Rising Eve Ensler, Tony Stroebel 3
An inspiring music video for the One Billion Rising
campaign: women worldwide rising up against all
kinds of violence.
08:05 pm THE SARI SOLDIERS Julie Bridgham 92 USA-
An extraordinary story of six women’s courageous efforts Nepal
to shape Nepal’s future in the midst of an escalating civil
war against Maoist insurgents, and the King’s crackdown
on civil liberties.
SATURDAY 08 DECEMBER
11:00 am The violence of systemic “forgetting”– remembering our 15
histories by Gita Chadha
11:15 am FRAGMENTS OF A PAST Uma Chakravarti 54 India
The ephemeral nature of memory and the importance of
keeping alive our histories are both underlined in this film
essay as it retraces the political journey of activist and writer
Mythili Sivaraman.
FOCUS: States of Mind (what makes “normal”
normal?)
12:10 pm THERE IS SOMETHING IN THE AIR Iram Ghufran 30 India
A series of dream narratives, and accounts of spiritual
possession as experienced by women ‘petitioners’ at the
shrine of a Sufi saint in north India. The shrine becomes a
space of expressions of longing and transgression.
12:40 pm THE WINDOW Putul Mahmood 6 India
One morning a mentally ill, vagrant woman peeps into a
tailoring shop and gets fascinated by the colourful laces and
material she sees there. The shop owner, also a woman,
invites her in…
12:45 pm CONVERSATIONS FOR THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON: TWO 20 India
SISTERS & SHILPI Putul Mahmood
A dialogue with two sisters who are inmates of the Lumbini
Park Mental Hospital in Kolkata, and a conversation with
Shilpi about her unnerving experiences with psychiatrists.

4. 01:05 pm Discussion with Ketki Ranade 25
01:30 pm LUNCH
FOCUS: Women in Conflict Zones (Redefined)
from the continuing battles against caste and other
discriminations to armed conflicts and war
02:30 pm SHIT Amudhan RP 25 India
A street in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. A woman who sweeps
up all the shit. Her name is Mariammal and she does this
every day of her life. The film raises critical questions about
caste, working conditions, the indifference of the Municipal
Corporation, and people’s lack of civic sense.
02:55 pm India Unheard
END CASTE VIOLENCE AND ENSURE FAIR RATIONS IN 2 India
RURAL JHARKHAND Anil Gudia
A Dalit woman who protested for her rations was brutally
beaten up and left for dead by the upper caste owner of the
ration shop. This video report led to the culprits’ arrest.
But some of the neediest families in the village are yet to
receive their rations.
MICROFINANCE INCITES CASTE VIOLENCE 3
Varsha Jawalgekar
A private moneylender disrupts a meeting of a microfinance
group and brutally attacks a woman member. This video
is currently being used as evidence in the case filed
by the victim.
DEFENCELESS WOMAN BRANDED ‘WITCH’ Mukesh Rajak 3
Women belonging to marginalized communities are often
accused by superstitious villagers of indulging in black
magic. They are publicly ostracised and abused. This video is
the testimony of one victim against this terrible oppression.
03:05 pm POSITIVE LIVING C Vanaja 30 India
A story of women living with HIV who persisted on their
journey in life, against social ostracism and with
dignity and hope.
03:35 pm KUSUM Shumona Banerjee 11 India
Transvestite sex worker Kusum gears up for a regular night.
Enter Purab, a troubled English literature teacher who
speaks no Bengali. All hell breaks loose as the two struggle
to negotiate the night in each other’s presence.
03:45 pm TALES FROM THE MARGINS Kavita Joshi 23 India
12 women disrobe in public – in protest. A young woman
called Irom Sharmila has been on a fast-to-death for years,
demanding justice. The film looks at the grim human rights
situation in Manipur and the extraordinary protests by its
womenfolk for justice and peace.

5. 04:10 pm GOD SLEEPS IN RWANDA Kimberlee Acquaro, 29 Rwanda-
Stacy Sherman USA
Heart-wrenching and inspiring, this powerful film is a
reminder of the brutal consequences of the Rwandan
genocide, and a tribute to the strength and spirit of the
women who are moving forth.
04:40 pm Panel: Chayanika Shah, Vahida Nainar and others 50
05:30 pm BREAK
05:50 pm BOL Shabnam Virmani 4 India
Made as part of a public service television campaign on the
issue of domestic violence, these spots instigate a range of
people to “speak out”.
05:55 pm INVOKING JUSTICE Deepa Dhanraj 86 India
In Tamil Nadu, family disputes are settled by all-male
Jamaats which function without allowing women to be
present. A group of women have established a women’s
Jamaat, which works to reform a system that allows men
to take refuge in the most extreme interpretations of the
Qur’an to justify violence towards women.
07:20 pm Discussion: Women’s Jamaats and other such initiatives 20
with Sabah Khan
07:40 pm BREAK
08:00 pm SCARLET ROAD Catherine Scott 70 Australia
Sex worker Rachel Wotton specializes in a long overlooked
clientele – people with disabilities. Her philosophy is
that human touch and sexual intimacy can be the most
therapeutic aspects to our existence. She fights both for the
rights of sex workers and for access to sexual expression for
the disabled through sex work.
09:10 pm Discussion: Rights of People with Disability (including the 20
right to access sex) with Nidhi Goyal and Richa Kaul Padte
SUNDAY 09 DECEMBER
GODDESSES Leena Manimekalai
11:00 am Three ordinary women who live extraordinary lives, 43 India
surviving the darkest of times by going against society’s
norms to live and work according to the rules they have
set for themselves.

6. FOCUS: The Gendered Impact of Neoliberal
Globalisation
11:45 am AMERICA AMERICA KP Sasi 5 India
A music video that cocks a snook at the great American
empire and exposes the American war machine for what it
is - global terrorism.
11:50 am HOW GREEN WAS OUR VALLEY Fereshteh Joghataei 32 Iran
A dam has been built and the water is rising. 63 villages will
be flooded and the residents must be uprooted. People wait
for a miracle at a holy shrine.
12:25 pm BRANDED GIRLS Bijoyeta Das, Khaled Hasan 7 Bangladesh
In Bangladesh, young women work in sweatshops
producing clothing for the world’s top brands at less than
minimal wages.
12:30 pm Discussion with Ilina Sen 30
01:00 pm LUNCH
FOCUS: our bodies, our rights
02:00 pm MERA ANUBHAV OP Arora 13 India
Interviews of women across the country, about their
experience of using the Loop as a family planning device in
the 1960s.
02:15 pm SOMETHING LIKE A WAR Deepa Dhanraj 52 India
This classic traces the history of the family planning
program and exposes the cynicism, corruption and brutality
which characterizes its implementation.
03:10 pm CAN WE SEE THE BABY BUMP PLEASE? Surabhi Sharma 49 India
Medical tourism and commercial surrogacy have spawned
a range of clinics and practices across big cities and small
towns The film meets with surrogates, doctors, law firms,
agents, and family in an attempt to understand the context of
surrogacy in India.
04:00 pm Panel: filmmaker Surabhi Sharma and others 45
04:45 pm WE ARE FOOT SOLDIERS Debolina Dutta, Oishik Sircar 24 India
In 2005, children of sex workers in Kolkata’s Sonagachi red
light district came together to form their own organisation,
Amra Padatik (We Foot Soldiers), drawing inspiration from
the work that their mothers had been doing to demand their
right to sex work as work. The film journeys through the
lives of six Amra Padatik members.

7. 05:10 pm BREAK
05:30 pm MORE THAN A FRIEND Debalina 30 India
Rupsa and Ranja are in love with each other, and move
in together. Their domestic help seems bemused. When
Ranja’s mother comes to visit, all the characters must come
to terms with the situation and with their own feelings. A
docu-fiction work set in Kolkata, in the climate of greater
awareness about same sex relationships.
06:00 pm ORCHIDS: MY INTERSEX ADVENTURE Phoebe Hart 57 Australia
Phoebe Hart knew she was different growing up – but she
didn’t know why. This award-winning documentary traces
Phoebe’s voyage of self-discovery as an intersex person, as
she embarks on a road trip with her sister to meet other
intersex people and hear their stories.
07:00 pm Discussion: Understanding Intersex (and looking beyond 20
the gender binary) with Shalini Mahajan
07:20 pm BREAK
07:40 pm MANN KE MANJEERE Sujit Sircar, Gary 5 India
The famous anthem about a woman rebuilding her life in the
aftermath of domestic violence. Mita Vashisht as the woman,
Prasoon Joshi’s lyrics, Shubha Mudgal’s voice.
CLosing film:
07:45 pm FACING MIRRORS Negar Azarbayjani 102 Iran
With her husband in prison, Rana drives a taxi to support
herself and her young son. During a journey to drop Adineh
far outside Tehran, Rana makes a discovery that horrifies
her. A story of prejudice, friendship and redemption.

8. PARTNERS
DEPT. OF COMMUNICATION
Kerala state MEDIA FOR CHILDREN
Chalachithra SNDT WOMEN’S UNIVERSITY PUNE
Academy
This schedule is subject to change. For details log on to www.iawrtindia.blogspot.com