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Bay Area Women in Television and Film (BAWIFM)
Pakistani American Culture Center
Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project
FilmTHE BOXING LADIES + SHORTS: Gender/Sexuality in Frame |
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2:30 pm Buy tickets to this film Director: Various Jordache Ellapen in Person Four short films examine changing attitudes to gender and sexuality across South Asia and its diaspora: Anusha Nandakumar’s The Boxing Ladies (India, 2011, 26 mins, In Bengali with English subtitles) tells the story of three teenage sisters—Zainab, Bushra and Sughra—who hail from a small slum in Kolkata. These spirited girls dare to dream and eventually break through stereotypes of Muslim women to rise above their living conditions and become national-level boxers. Siraj ul haque’s Chandni (Pakistan, 2009, 20 mins, In Urdu with English subtitles) is a poignant tale about a child given away to be raised by a family of eunuchs. Chandni slowly adapts to her new life but is never able to let go of her past, nor accept her eunuch fate. Her ultimate transformation comes one day when she visits the shrine of an Islamic saint, and her life acquires new meaning. Jordache Ellapen’s cane/cain (South Africa, 2011, 15 mins, In English) examines the intersections of religion, migration, desire and sexuality in the predominantly Muslim community of Fordsburg in urban Johannesburg. An Indian South African, Aben, and a Pakistani immigrant, Tariq, find common ground through love and sugarcane, in the wake of xenophobic attacks. Bay Area filmmaker Neelu Bhuman’s Family in Frame (US, 2011, 7 mins, In English and Telugu with English subtitles) is an honest and uplifting portrait of queer identity. The filmmaker comes out as bisexual to her family, evoking a multiplicity of voices and reactions from family members. A tribute to transcendent sexualities! Festivals cane/cain: Durban International Film Festival, South Africa Family in Frame: LA Outfest Fusion; Nigah, New Delhi Queer Fest; Cinemarosa’s Queerin’ Queens, NYC; Vathil’s 2010 Queer Film Festival, Kerala; Queer Nazariya – Mumbai Queer Film Festival Awards |