Due to issues relating to social mobility, financial solvency, access to peer groups—women are often disabled in terms the ‘social eligibility’ to join the film industry. Since there are no fully equipped film schools, most film learning happens though informal peer groups. Issues of safety and respectability play a big role in restricting women from joining this profession. The mostly male composition and highly sexist environment of these peer groups of films fraternity also create discouraging environment for women. This is why we felt it was necessary to create a woman only space for learning and creating. We realized that, if we want to enable our young dreamers to make films, first we must create a safe space for them where healing and disclosure is possible—a space where a woman can own upto her own voice and be confident enough to tell her story. Therefore, we have divided our program into few different phases to address the needs of the aspiring women directors.
We intend to create a community of young women and dedicated mentors and put them through an incubation period. Film direction, as a job requires leadership skills, therefore, we will provide a custom-tailored leadership workshop for our participants. Some knowledge of feminist film history, female gaze, gendered reading of film texts are also very important tools for a woman director, thus, we will arrange study circles led by academics to address this issue.
Once our participants are ready with their scripts, they will get an opportunity to pitch in front of a panel of international jury members. Two projects will be awarded with grants. Production support and mentorship will be provided during the production. We will also ensure local and international distribution of these two films.