Depicting the struggle of women scribes

A documentary film ‘Velvet Revolution’, produced by International Association of Women in Radio and Television (IAWRT) was screened recently in the city. The film features the work of six women journalists including Zaina Erhaim, Malini Subramaniam, Rafida Bonya Ahmed, Bharathi Yendapalli, Moussa Marandata and Kimberlie Ngabit Quitasol from various countries.

Directed by Nupur Basu, an award-winning journalist and filmmaker from India, the film explores how six women journos face problems while reporting public issues. The film starts with explaining how Syrian reporter Zaina Erhaim was exiled to southern Turkey for her extensive coverage of the Civil War in Aleppo.

Later the film shows how Malini Subramaniam, an Indian journalist was forced to go out of her hometown for reporting on human rights violations committed by armed forces against tribals in Chattisgarh. The film also shows another Indian reporter, Bharathi Yendapalli, who worked for Mahila Navodayam, a monthly magazine, how she overcomes the problems of reporting on atrocities of landlords.

The film showcases the difficulties faced by US-based Bangladeshi journalist Rafida Bonya Ahmed, who founded the website ‘Mukto-Mona’ for free-thinkers and rationalists. Rafida lost her husband in an attack by a group of religious fundamentalists. The film also explores about Moussa Marandata and Kimberlie Ngabit Quitasol and how they face problems while reporting public issues.

The film reveals that women journalists are attacked two times more - physically and in social media compared to men. One out of three journalists are killed in Syria. The 57-minute film also reveals that most of the journalists behind Panama Papers are women.