SAN FRANCISCO, CA: The Festival of Globe (FOG), previously known as Festival of India, came into its own on the occasion of India’s 69th Independence Day organized by the Federation of Indo Americans (FIA) spearheaded by Dr Romesh Japra and Rajesh Varma, Chairman and President, as well as an army of almost 400 volunteers.
Along with the Mela, and Grand Parade, and an international movie festival this year, spanning 10 days between August 7-16, a significant theme was that of the issue of women empowerment, which was the topic of two separate Panel Discussions, as well as several movie screenings.
The introduction of the first panel on Women’s Empowerment issues was with the screening of the movie, “Petals in the Dust” by Nyna Pais Caputa, a filmmaker who lives in California, but was so moved by the plight of the women she witnessed in India, that she made it the subject of her directorial debut. The stark and gruesome realities were shown, without any attempt to disguise the sheer baseness of human nature, in this case, crimes perpetrated by male members of the society on females.
The movie depicts an arc of the ravages an Indian woman can face, from even before birth, till the end of
her life. The irony is that female feticide involves explicit criminal behavior on the part of medical professionals, who have taken the oath to do no harm. Diagnostic tools such as ultrasound laboratories do brisk business as sex determinants of unborn fetuses, and play an unwitting role in the selection of gender to be birthed or aborted.
Besides the obvious gender skewing that it results in, this practice is big business for unscrupulous doctors, and wreaks havoc on the mother carrying the ill-fated fetus in her womb. In a gut wrenching scene, the fate of the aborted fetuses is revealed as literally being thrown to the dogs, like a piece of trash to avoid scrutiny when laws against this practice were passed.
Education & awareness
Nyna shared the ideas of education and awareness on women’s plight as the main thrust of her documentary, while exploring solutions. To this end she has started organizations, both in India and the US that deal with the issue.
The first panel was a smaller one, comprising eight members including Dr Japra and Doug Hollie, from NFL Players Association as the only male members in a panel discussing women’s issues.
The moderator, Teresa Cox, a trade advisor to the Obama Administration did a stellar job of keeping the discussion focused and to the point, with questions targeted to the panelist’s expertise.
Panelists highlighted empowerment in education, health, financial and earning potential as the basis for gender parity. Doug himself shared that he experienced gender inequality in his own family and stated that the sports arena sees widespread mistreatment of women. He would like to use Caputa’s movie as a means of raising awareness in his players.
Resilience of a woman
The second panel discussion opened with the screening of the movie, “Tara, a journey of love and passion”, by director and producer, Kumar Raj which depicts resilience of a Banjara woman when her husband is jailed for manufacturing illicit liquor. She continues the trade surreptitiously, and is the moral compass of her community. The final blow comes when she is wrongly accused of adultery and conceiving a child with another man while her husband languished in prison, and is banished from her village.
Her strong character allows her to recover and earn a living by selling milk in partnership with another woman. In the end, a research organization based in Mumbai facilitates the paternity testing of Tara’s baby who is determined to be sired by Tara’s husband, who then wants to take her back. Tara rejects him, and a second suitor and enjoys life as an independent, empowered and successful woman.
The larger 15-member panel for this occasion comprised mostly members from the global entertainment industry, who shared how they overcame obstacles to be successful as women in their own rights. A charming and unassuming, multi talented Deepti Naval, in a chat mentioned that she prefers the solitude of her thoughts that lead her to make the right decision. Bailing, a Chinese actress lived the dictum to believe in oneself; not knowing English, and being poor when she started her journey to screen success. Rekha Rana, the lead actor in “Tara” was deeply moved by her role, and wanted the message to be that women must help other women, as was seen in the movie, and stand up to the abuse handed out by men.
Great filmmaking
A film, not on women, but that deserves mention for great filmmaking, was “Ankhon Dekhi”, by the eminently talented Rajat Kapoor, and which entertained the audience with good, clean fun, while delivering some powerful messages. The protagonist of the movie, Bauji, superbly acted by Sanjai Mishra at some point in his life declares that he will only believe what he can see and experience himself. This leads to some predictable conflict and humorous situations all the way until the unexpected ending. The near perfect depiction of a small town, middle class joint family, with its quirky characters is well developed with the help of witty dialogue and excellent acting by all cast, including from the director, Rajat Kapoor.
The almost exponential increase in volunteers for this Festival reflects the magnitude of the undertaking, with over 50 global movies screened. Nominations in the categories of Narrative feature, Documentary feature, Bay Area Film Initiative and Music Videos were screened mostly at Camera 12 Cinemas in San Jose. Almost all delegates representing their movie or video went home with an award that honored their contribution, in a star studded finale to the movie festival that included a red carpet welcome and a multicultural show in the elegant San Jose Center for Performing Arts. The attempt to showcase diverse films and recognize their achievement is lauded, although at times it felt overwhelming, with multiple movie screenings simultaneously, and the arrival of over 70 celebrities at the red carpet.
Awards Ceremony
The Awards Ceremony began with a rendition of the American national anthem, however, the Indian national anthem was conspicuous by its absence, an irony considering this event took place on August 15, although there was a flag raising in San Jose on August 12. Some highlights from the multicultural extravaganza included Bhappi Lahiri from Mumbai, who serenaded the audience with some of his favorite songs, as he accepted a Lifetime Award, having lent his voice to 600 movies.
A delightfully refreshing sound was the powerful vocals singing the blues by the eminent daughter of the legendary blues performer, B.B. King! She was emotional while receiving the award and sang with gusto to show her respect for her departed father. Other forms of entertainment were dance performances, from Fiji, China, Vietnam, Nepal, India, Canada and Russia among others.
The Nepali delegation received warm and hearty applause from their many supporters in the audience, as the veteran actor and filmmaker Sunil Thapa, was recognized for his Lifetime Award. A surprise addition to this delegation was the Ambassador of Nepal who humbly acknowledged the resilience of his people in the face of the recent earthquake, and continuing to pursue the arts. Independent film making needs the support at such forums to highlight the diversity and talent they bring.
Archana Asthana
India Post News Service
