The India chapter of IAWRT (International Association of Women in Radio & Television) is back with the 9th edition of IAWRT Asian Womens Film Festival,an annual event organised in the month of March to mark the International Womens Day. The focus of the 2013 edition is films from Iran and South Korea,apart from outstanding student films made in India. Anupama Srinivasan,festival director,says The IAWRT Asian Womens Film Festival celebrates the creativity of Asian women by showcasing the depth and diversity of their work. It seeks to create an open and dynamic space for sharing and discussing films from a gender perspective. The 2013 edition focuses on new talent. Besides film screenings,there will also be art and photography exhibitions,and a seminar. Vocal Art Titled Shame was a Place Inside my Heart,the installation by Priyanka Chhabra and Manmeet Kaur has been made using many mp3 players,which contain clips of people narrating their stories,thereby exploring the psychology behind shame. Viewers can listen in to these candid conversations that help join the dots between sexual harassment and the emotion of shame, says festival director Anupama Srinivasan. It will be on display at Gandhi-King Plaza,IIC on March 6 and 7. Life in a Photo During the week of the film festival,Fragments,a photography exhibition by filmmakers Monica Bhasin and Uma Tanuku,will present the complex details of everyday life. While walking through the streets of Panjim in Goa and its adjacent waterfronts,Bhasin has captured the remnants of everyday life. Tanuku,on the other hand,has tried to focus on those minute details that skip our attention in our daily lives. The exhibition is on display at IIC Annexe Gallery,till March 8. Talking heads On March 5,a day-long seminar on Community Radio & Democracy in South Asia will he held. Radio practitioners and legal experts from India,Nepal,Sri Lanka,Bangladesh,Pakistan and Afghanistan will talk about the difficulties they face from the government and commercial interests,and their experiences in their respective countries. One can hear first-hand experiences of pioneers from Afghanistan,Pakistan,Nepal,Bangladesh and Sri Lanka on how they set up community radio stations in their conflict-ridden regions. The seminar will be held at IIC Conference Room I on March 5,10 am to 5.30 pm Now Showing The festival will comprise world premieres of three international films,19 South Asian films and 11 Delhi films dealing with the subjects of gender,sexuality,parenthood,nationality and migration. Among the fictional feature films that will be showcased at the festival is Facing Mirrors by Negar Azarbayjani. The film,which revolves round transgenders in Iran and reveals the relationship between two women with different social and cultural backgrounds,will open the festival. 20 Fingers by Mania Akbari is an Iranian fiction feature with just seven shots,where two actors explore the intricacies of man-woman relationship. The world premieres include Hoichoi (The Ruckus) by Debarati Gupta,about a street theatre group consisting of young boys and girls,their ambitions and confusion about love and life. Shocking Truths A 27-minute documentary film,A Pinch of Skin,directed by Priya Goswami,addresses the sensitive issue of female genital mutilation in India. While researching for the film,Goswami came across people who told her that the mutilation would suppress the sexual impulses of girls and withhold them from having sexual relationships before marriage. There was an educated doctor I met,who believed that if female circumcision is not done,all girls will turn into prostitutes. These revelations make the oeuvre of the documentary, she says. Filmmakers Galore The festival will also witness the presence of 24 filmmakers from countries such as Iran,South Korea and Hong Kong,besides India. This includes Ryu Mi-Rye of My Sweet Baby,screenwriter Fereshte Taerpour of Facing Mirrors,Kavita Bahl,Nandan Saxena and Mahvash Sheikholeslami of Where do I Belong? and Roqiye Tavakoli of Saba. Shishir Tripathi is a student of EXIMS
