A festival to break disability myths Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar
Four-day event, `WE CARE Filmfest', to begin in New Delhi come December NEW DELHI: To create public awareness about disability issues, artistes and non-government organisations have increasingly realised, the medium of films can prove to be a really effective tool, especially in a country where films are part and parcel of many people's day-to-day life. In order to bring to the fore the talents of filmmakers, two NGOs, Brotherhood and Tamana Welfare Society, are holding a four-day film festival, `WE CARE Filmfest' at India International Centre in New Delhi from December 3. The festival seeks to provide the target audience the 25,000 foreign films and documentaries that have been made on disability-related issues but have failed to reach out to those they intend to benefit the most. The organisers say it was indeed a pity that even in India there are about 40 films in both Hindi and regional languages and about 50 documentaries that have barely managed to reach their target audience. Lending his voice to the cause is noted filmmaker Govind Nihalini who announced the programme. "The recent success of the film `Black' has demonstrated that films can be a powerful medium for educating the people about disability issues, stereotypes and misconceptions and also for creating awareness which can give equal rights and opportunities to mentally and physically challenged people," he said. Stating that "the name of the film festival, `WE CARE Filmfest', sums up the sprit of this endeavour," the producer of many an acclaimed film such as `Takshak' and `Ardh Satya' and serials such as `Tamas' added that "this festival should not be looked as an event but as a movement". The renowned filmmaker will also head the jury, which will include other celebrities such as Nandita Das, Deepak Roy, Prof. P.K. Nair and Prof. M.M. Alex. Chairperson of the film festival and president of Tamana Welfare Society Shayama Chona said the aim of the film festival is to focus on issues concerning the mentally challenged and create a wider public awareness about disabilities and the disabled people. The festival, she said, would also seek to make the masses aware of the different activities that can help those with disabilities and make their future bright. As for the award-winning films, she said, they would be taken to schools and colleges to educate the students who are the future managers of the country. Highlighting the concept of the film festivals on disability issues in India, the director of the film festival, Satish Kapoor, said research had established that that in most countries a majority of children with disabilities do not know any disabled adults and, consequently, many have a difficult time in imagining their future. The audio-visual medium can provide them opportunities to observe disabled adults undertaking a wide variety of activities, in effect, introducing them to positive role models. "The aim of the film festival is to break down the myths, misconceptions, prejudices and stereotype about disability by using the medium of films." Entries have been invited from all over India in two categories -- films of up to one minute and up to five minutes. And three awards each -- carrying a cash component of Rs 50,000, Rs 30,000 and Rs 20,000, respectively -- would be given away in both the categories. http://www.thehindu.com/2006/10/04/stories/2006100410880200.htm Vikas Kapoor, MSN ID: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo ID: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Skype ID: dl_vikas Mobile: (+91) 9891098137. To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
