It’s been over a hundred years since feminism first came into being with the original suffragette movement of the early 1900s. Just as human lifestyle evolved over the century, feminism and its tenets too transformed and proliferated, on their way to the 21st century. This long journey that landed the feminist movement smack, bang in modern times, has displayed enough flamboyance in its history to warrant its own Academy Awards montage, complete with an epic orchestra crescendo. It has witnessed such intriguing events as the very enigmatic Cat and Mouse Act passed in Britain in 1913 to rein in suffragettes on hunger strike, the contraceptive pill on the cover of Time magazine, one incredible setting where a New York Legislature hearing on abortion laws featured a panel of 14 men and a nun, a ‘Battle of the Sexes’ tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs in 1973, a disruption at a Miss World contest involving flour bombs, the recent Gamergate controversy and the issue of pinkification.Around 2012, a fourth wave of feminism started tiptoeing its way into the public consciousness, with efforts such as the Everyday Sexism Project, Reclaim the Night marches and the One Billion Rising campaign, catching on like bush fire. Discussions about body shaming, street harassment, sexual abuse, workplace discrimination and pay inequality were pulled into the public sphere with the help of social media and online campaigning. Cultural mindsets and chauvinistic conditioning were called out, as was the blaming of assorted factors such as short skirts, inebriation, and chow mein as forms of ‘invitation’.And everyday, you hear of a small website here, a large march there, that fits into this measured yet pervasive movement that is churning subtle shifts in attitude. This brand of modern feminism also attempts to be inclusive rather than belligerent, banding together with men while rallying against injustice or using humor to highlight careless sexism.An attempt to encapsulate this crusade in India, is an upcoming documentary festival by the Godrej India Culture Lab in collaboration with the feminist website The Ladies Finger. “Wandering Women: The Feminist Docu Film Festival of India” is scheduled for the Independence Day weekend, on August 15-16, at the Godrej India Culture Lab in Vikhroli, Mumbai, and will showcase 10 documentaries that take up issues of sexism in India. Experimenting with forms of filmmaking and storytelling, these films showcase a wide range of subjects, from the Pink Sari vigilantes and daring women journalists in the state of Uttar Pradesh, to a butch female truck driver in Gujarat and a young photographer’s account of a painful break-up.Of the films being screened, “Gulabi Gang” is a Norwegian-Indian-Danish production that won “Best Film on Social Issues” and “Best Non Feature Film Editing” at the 61st National Film Awards. It documents the struggles of Sampat Lal Devi and her gang of vigilantes who are fighting against gender violence, casteism and corruption in rural India. “Manjuben Truck Driver” is the story of a female truck driver who has made place for herself in a very male profession, by dressing, working and living like a man, even having adopted a patriarchal mindset. Director Bishakha Data follows a team of women journalists who work for a fortnightly regional newspaper run by Dalit women, in her film “Taza Khabar”. “Dream Girls” is a film made as a response to the 2012 Delhi bus rape, and tracks the way women navigate their lives in this society. Director Reena Mohan’s debut in documentary filmmaking, “Kamlabai” tells the story of Kamlabai Gokhale, a pioneering actress of Marathi theatre at the beginning of the 20th century. Paromita Vohra’s “Unlimited Girls” tackles the subject of feminism in the country, by engaging with different lives and minds. “Ladies Special” delivers an insightful and humorous peek into what goes on in the women’s-only coaches of the Mumbai Local that traverses between the stations of Virar and Churchgate. “Naach” is a film about women dancers in the rural, male-dominated society of Sonpur in Bihar; while “Scribbles on Akka” is a short film on the life and work of Mahadevi Akka, a 12th century saint-poet who used the female body as a metaphor in her writings. The last film in the selection is “Nirnay”, which follows the lives of young women from a lower middle class colony in Ghaziabad, over a period of three years, to record the changes in their circumstances.FILM FESTIVAL SCHEDULE:Day 1 Saturday, August 15, 201510:00 am - YouTube Party: Viral Feminist Videos11:15 am - Gulabi Gang by Nishtha Jain (96 min) 2014 + Discussion with the director1:00 pm - Lunch2:00 pm - Manjuben Truck Driver by Sherna Dastur (50 min) 20023:00 pm - Taza Khabar by Bishakha Datta (31 min) 2008 + Discussion with the director4:00 pm - Tea Break 4:30 pm - Dream Girls by Afrah Shafiq and Deepika Sharma (14 min) 20135:00 pm - Kamlabai by Reena Mohan (47 min) 19926:00 pm - Panel discussion: How Feminism Changed Indian DocumentariesDay 2 Sunday, August 16, 201510:00 am - Unlimited Girls by Paromita Vohra (92 min) 2002 + Discussion with the director12:00 pm - Panel discussion: Are Viral Videos Juicing Up Feminism or Diluting It? 1:00 pm - Lunch2:00 pm - Ladies Special by Nidhi Tuli 2003 (28 min) + Discussion with the director3:00 pm - Naach by Saba Dewan (84min) 2008 4:30 pm - Tea Break 5:00 pm - Scribbles on Akka by Madhusree Dutta (60 min) 20006:00 pm - Nirnay by Pushpa Rawat and Anupama Srinivasan Nirnay (56 min) 20127:00 pm - Closing performanceTo register for the event, visit the Godrej India Culture Lab website.Follow @ARTINFOIndia
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