SAHM on Screen ONE

About this event

Short Film Introduction by Directors with Live Questions and Answer Sessions with Guests Anuj Radia and Mr. Harish Sadani who will be Joining us from India to talk about his organisation MAVA Mumbai (Men Against Violence & Abuse) and SamaBhav International Film Festival.

Untying the Knot by director Zana Shammi

The powerful story of a blinded domestic assault survivor and her inspiring pursuit of her life's dreams. An urgent exploration of marriage in Bangladesh, the film lays bare the sacrifices made by women in the name of marital expectation.

This film is about resilience, strength, and hope. Zana Shammi’s first documentary feature film, Untying the Knot, follows the story of UBC grad Rumana Monzur, a young student who returned to Bangladesh only to be violently attacked by her own husband.

Maida by director Lubna Yusuf.

In a country where the Goddess of knowledge is a female deity called Saraswati, only 42 of the 100 girls enrolled in class 1 reach class Five and only 1 reaches class Twelve.

MAIDA (white flour) is a living documentary film shot across a span of eight years.

This documentary explores the societal norms of dowry, child marriage and the prevalent practice of school drop-outs after the onset of menstruation. Maida traces the dreams and aspirations of a young schoolgirl in an Indian village of Bihar. Through her stories and Bhojpuri folk songs, she breaks the myth of women empowerment, as we know it. Such incidents go unreported for lack of courage to face societal consequences.

Despite laws and regulations made to empower girls, with cycles and midday meals, child drop out rates and child marriages post puberty are still a prevalent practice in India. Documentaries are mirrors of society. All laws, covenants and policies fail at the implementation level and girl children still continue to get exploited without a voice of their own. Girl children are not even aware of their own rights to defend themselves. This documentary is for all voiceless girl children who deserve their stories to be told without Fear.

'Maida' had its first Indian Festival Premier at the Prestigious International Documentary and Short Film Festival, Kerala 2019 (IDSFFK) in June 2019. The UK premier was at We The Peoples Film Festival, the Human Rights Documentary festival of United Nations Association UNA-UK. It has travelled to 20 international film festivals so far.

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SOAS South Asia Institute hosts the hybrid summer festival SOAS South Asian Heritage Month Festival on campus taking place on 15-16 July 2022.

Organiser:

The Festival is co-directed by Dr Sanjukta Ghosh (SSAI) and Farzana Qureshi (SOAS Library).

The festival is in partnership with South Asian Heritage Month, the well-known month-long celebration in the United Kingdom (similar in spirit to Black History Month) to celebrate the heritage of people with roots in the South Asian countries of Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, and the Maldives.

The SOAS SAHM is in collaboration with Jasvir Singh OBE and Dr Binita Kane along with the wider team members.

Contact email: ssai@soas.ac.uk