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Workshop on Film-making for Indigenous Women in Nepal

Nepalese indigenous women film makers and organizers. Photos: Smita

Kathmandu, June 28, 2008- “After the workshop concludes, we hope that these female trainees will go back to their communities and do something for their community through their lenses,” said Nabin Subba, President of Indigenous Film Archive (IFA).

The six day-long workshop which started on 22 of June and concluded on 27th June was for indigenous women who were interested in making documentary film.

Twenty one women representing different ethnic groups as well as one Chhetri and one member of the Dalit community participated.

The workshop was undertaken by IFA with support from the Danish Embassy.

“Women play very important role in culture conservation not only through their cultural dresses and dances but also through their everyday lifestyle and traditional practices,” says Renchin Yonjan, national consultant for the Danish Embassy.

She believes that with this workshop has given the platform to empower indigenous women. “It will open new horizons and encourage them to make films that raise as yet unexplored issues and practices from ethnic communities. This will promote, preserve and document unique cultural practices and knowledge of indigenous communities,” she added.

“This is a small contribution from our side to provide an opportunity for them to open doors into new fields,” she said. She hopes that even if some will not be directly involved in film making, they will help in the documentation of good cultural practices of indigenous communities.

Participants representing their communities were from many walks of life and professions. There were also participants from marginalized communities and regions such as Chepang, Majhi ethnic groups and Mugu region.

Tshering Rhitar Sherpa, a workshop trainer said the women showed immense potential and interest in film making. “They were naive about film-making but within days they improved a lot as they showed their enthusiasm to learn,” he said.

Three other well known film-makers, Nabin Subba, Rajesh Gongaju and Anup Subedi also guided trainees in different aspects of film-making.

Sherpa said the six day workshop was not sufficient to become truly competent in this field and added “Due to the lack of time we could only touch the surface level. If they can receive more extensive training, then I am sure they will emerge as good film-makers.”

“It was an intoxicating experience. Though we knew very little about film-making it was hard to stay away from it,” said Laxmi Sunuwar explaining her experience of the workshop.

Sunuwar is the treasurer of the Sunuwar Women’s Society and was representing her Sunuwar community. She believes the workshop has given her new means with which to document her culture while promoting and protecting it.

She said she learned a lot here about filming. However, due to the short time it was sometimes difficult to keep up the trainers’ instruction. “ Those things which are learned in 2 or 3 years by others we struggled to learn in 2 hours.”

Director Nabin Subba.

The film industry is a male-dominated sector in the country where very few female film-makers are involved and among those females, very few are from indigenous communities. So though only little, this workshop can encourage some indigenous women to reach for the new horizon of cinema. “We are optimistic that at least 5 to 7 of these women will get involved in the industry,” said Nabin Subba.

Of the 21 participants, 10 semifinalists will be selected and from those, five finalists will be given the opportunity to make a short film in 15 days within a budget of Rs. 150,000 to Rs. 200,000.

The overall program included basic knowledge of film and the history of film. They watched several award-winning movies and documentaries, followed by discussion and review sessions.

Last year, the same workshop was organized for professional indigenous men involved in film-making to encourage them to make documentaries on indigenous cultural and traditional practices.

-Smita Magar in Kathmandu

तपाईंको भनाइ लेखी छाड्‍न र अरुको भनाइ पढ्न यहाँ क्लिक गर्नुहोस्
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