[Soasiastudents] [Fwd: South Asian Vagina Monologues, Short films, Community Speaks, Workshops and much more]

[Priti Ramamurthy]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	South Asian Vagina Monologues, Short films, Community Speaks, 
Workshops and much more
Date: 	Fri, 9 Apr 2010 13:52:24 -0400
From: 	info at tasveer.org
To: 	tasveer at tasveer.org



	
Tasveer Newsletter: February 2008 <http://www.tasveer.org>
 

	


      Tasveer and Chaya present


  Aaina: South Asian Women’s Focus


      5th Year Anniversary!!!


      April 9th, 10th, 11th
      Ethnic Cultural Theater, University of Washington


Gupshup: Aaina Opening Night on April 9, 6 pm

Celebrate the 5th Anniversary with Chai (from Garam Masala), Namkeen, 
and Indian-style Pineapple Cake (from Mayuri) at Gupshup"

Join us for an evening of chit chat and gupshup with local South Asian 
women artists and activists as we kick start Aaina 2010. Thanks Prachi, 
Kruti, Alisha and Farah for organizing this.
This year, we’re excited to partner with the following South Asian women 
for an evening of Gupshup.
· *Kim Vora* of Anarkali, will bring beautiful, fairtrade items from 
artisans from India and Pakistan. you can purchase the items tonight at 
the Aaina, Opening Reception 6-7:30pm, Ethnic Culture Center UW.
· *Shahana Dattagupta*, presents her first book, Ten Avatars, which 
explores the South Asian/American multicultural experience by the 
telling of little incidents and big turning points in the lives of ten 
women protagonists.
· *Shay Samy* owns and runs Diya Skincare, a Holistic Skin Care Spa. 
Viewing her work as art, she promotes harmony, balance and inner beauty 
with a personal, nurturing and creative touch.

SCAN TV <www.scantv.org> will be there to film the whole process of 
Aaina for three days. Thank you SCAN. Check out the great resources and 
classes SCAN has to offer.

Yoni Ki Baat: South Asian Adaptation of the Vagina Monologues on April 9 
& 10th@ 8pm ; April 11th@ 5pm

YKB is a collection of authentic, bold, vivid, tender, powerful and 
poignant stories told by South Asian women.

Northwest Asian Weekly | Director helms South Asian ‘Talks of the Vagina

"It's in my body. All week this week & last week, as I've been in my 
writing-editing-practicing process, I have felt the tensions in my body. 
It starts at my neck. It works it's way down my back and lands on my 
lower spine. A throbbing pain dulls after a few minutes, and heat starts 
to radiate. It's settled there. It's settled, and not moving. I pray, I 
hope, I believe, it will release once the performance is over. My story 
has been told."

Yoni Ki Baat Blog

http://yonikibaat-seattle.blogspot.com/

Every year Yoni Ki Baat is unique featuring local South Asian women, 
many of whom write their own scripts. This year’s Yoni Ki Baat is 
directed by Anjulie Ganti, a longtime Chaya and Tasveer supporter.
Every year thus far, YKB has been sold out!

Buy your tickets today at:

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/104025

FILMS on April 10th@ 5pm

Tasveer Picks: International Shorts made by and about South Asian women
$8, Saturday, April 10th, 5PM

Tasveer Picks some old and some new for this beautiful, inspiring and 
complex collection of short films. Here are few that have been confirmed:

"This will be the Last Time..." (Gazelle Samizay, Afghanistan/US, 2008, 
5min)

samizayIn an effort to escape her marital problems, a woman preoccupies 
herself with washing a seemingly clean bed sheet. Constrained by 
cultural stigmas and pride, she will not leave her husband. She prefers 
to maintain the façade of a perfect life over her own happiness. 
However, all the past memories of the relationship metaphorically seep 
out of the sheet. Soon, she feels the burden of keeping silent, and 
realizes that she is complicit in her own misery. Instead of escaping 
her problems, she is consumed by them, until they render her powerless.

Heretic Heredity (Shalalae Jamil, Pakistan, 2003, 3 mins)

A young muslim woman pays tribute to what she considers to be 'True 
Islamic faith' simultaneously calling into question her own oscillating 
and contradictory views on the faith. This film was screened in the 
Urban Hum of Pakistan at Seattle's 2nd Independent South Asian Film 
Festival in 2005.

sum total (sonali, USA, 2000, 5min)

What does an Indian lesbian do when her family puts pressure on her to 
get married? What does her matrimonial advertisement look like? sum 
total answers these questions through a short poetic film that addresses 
issues of identity, self-representation, and hetronormativity. sum total 
is the first film to be ever screened by Tasveer in June 2002 on the 
occasion of Pride.

Desire Of The Moth (Amrita Mahadik, India, 2005, 15min)

This 76-year-old YOUNG woman looks like any grandma next door but her 
paintings reflect the maturity of a Sensitive Artiste. Her half 
"Marathi" half "Tamil" features add a unique charm to her personality. 
An honest human being with child-like genuineness and with true spirit, 
who has accepted life as it came, Shakuntala Patade, the grandma with an 
impish smile has a lot to tell through the film.

Flying (Kirthi Nath, India, 2009, 9min)

Flying is a personal essay inspired by the memories of a loved one lost. 
Flying is a poetic visual documentary journey about loving, grief, 
letting go and a search for faith. Flying explores when you are not sure 
it is out there.

Beauty Parlor (Mehreen Jabbar, Pakistan, 1998, 18min)

Beauty parlor gives a glimpse into the lives of four characters in a 
salon. Two friends, a bride, a prostitute and a hijra deal with issues 
of identity and desire.Beauty parlor gives a glimpse into the lives of 
four characters in a salon. Two friends, a bride, a prostitute and a 
hijra deal with issues of identity and desire.

Little Miss Eyeflap ( Iram Haq, Norway, 2009, 9min)

Through a ten-minute aesthetic animation film withreal actors, we follow 
a young immigrant girl’s hesitant steps out into the Norwegian reality. 
For the first time, Skylappjenta has to find her way in life alone, as 
an assimilated Pakistani who belongs nowhere.
" /Official Selection of Sundance Film Festival 2010 /"

Program sponsored by Dreamfly


Laxmi and Me
Nishtha Jain, India, 2008, 59minutes, Hindi/English, DVD
$5, Sunday, April 11th, 3PM

Laxmi and MeEven in a metropolis like Bombay, old feudal attitudes still 
govern relationships between employers and their ‘servants'. Against 
this backdrop, Nishtha begins making a film with Lakshmi, her part-time 
maid. 20-year-old Lakshmi's is a precarious existence to begin with; 
illness and romance compound her problems in unexpected ways. As the 
filmmaker is drawn deeper into Lakshmi's life, she is forced to look at 
aspects of her own self as well, and to question many of the things she 
takes for granted. During a year and a half of dramatic changes, the 
process of filming has its own impact on unfolding events and on the 
relationship between the two women.

If you missed the film on PBS here is your another chance to view. Here 
is the article from PBS

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/lakshmiandme/film.html


FREE WORKSHOP on April 11th@ 1pm

Human Rights, Film, and Advocacy: "The Sari Soldiers", "Tales from the 
Margins", and "There was a Queen"

FREE, Sunday, April 11th, 1PM

Sari Soldiers

 

In this workshop, Alka Kurian will explore the ways in which documentary 
film has been used a tool of resistance against women's human rights 
violations in South Asia.

Using the example of a few representative documentary films, she will 
investigate the significance of “technologies of witnessing”, and the 
“visual culture of human rights”. Films: “The Sari Soldiers,” “Tales 
from the Margins,” and "There was a Queen."

*Alka Kurian *is presently working on her book entitled South Asian 
Cinema: Gender, Justice and Dissent, due for publication. She was also a 
Senior Lecturer at the University of Sunderland (UK), with a teaching 
portfolio covering media and cultural studies, film and literature of 
the Indian subcontinent, postcolonial studies, black popular culture, 
and Third World feminisms."

"Tales from the Margins" is literally mind-blowing. Irom Sharmila and 
the cause she is fighting for (repeal of the draconian armed forces 
special power act in Manipur) deserves a lot more attention than it gets 
today (which is almost zero)". 
- Srijan Chakraborty

Donations are accepted. If you are attending please RSVP to rita at tasveer.org

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sponsor Highlight

What is dreamfly?
We're two friends, Umaimah and Mona, who've started dreamfly as an 
initiative to change the world by investing in the children of the world 
and providing them the opportunities they deserve to maximize their 
potential. We specifically want dreamfly to become a platform where 
people from all walks of life come together and work towards a common 
goal. In a world that seems fixated on our differences, we want to focus 
on our similarities - the fact that we all love our kids and want to 
pass on a better world to them. dreamfly is our hope of achieving that. 
Read more <http://www.thedreamfly.org/whatisdreamfly.html>
Dreamfly will have a presentation preceding a mesmerizing collection of 
shorts films, Tasveer Picks, Saturday April 10th, 5pm. 

Volunteer Highlight
Thank you Saara for your concept and design of the Aaina fliers this 
year. Saara will be one of the official photographers at Aaina. Smile 
for Saara this weekend! 

Speaker Highlight


Amy Bhatt is a PhD Candidate in Women Studies at the University of 
Washington. Her research focuses on the effects of migration on gender 
and families, social reproduction, diaspora, and South Asian cultural 
studies. She teaches courses on gender and globalization, women and 
development and feminist studies. She is also the oral historian for the 
South Asian Oral History Project of the University of Washington 
Libraries. As the moderator for the film Lakshmi and Me, Amy will 
discuss how the domestic worker's rights movement is growing nationally. 
After the film screening, she will facilitate a discussion about the 
gender and class aspects of domestic work in India.


Amy will facilitate the *Lakshmi & Me* screening on Sunday April 11th 3pm. 

 

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Resources

	

Aaina2010 sponsors are

	

*Chaya*
www.chayaseattle.org

<http://www.chayaseattle.org>

*Tasveer*
www.tasveer.org <http://www.chayaseattle.org>


*Dreamfly*
www.dreamfly.org <http://www.humanities.org>


Anarkali
http://smallandbeautiful.wordpress.com <http://www.humanities.org>

*Urdu with Farah*
urdu.farah at gmail.com <http://www.humanities.org>

 

*Garam Masala*
www.garamseattle.com <http://www.humanities.org>

 

*SCAN* (Media Sponsor)
www.scantv.org <http://www.humanities.org>

 

		

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<../Copy%20of%202010-03-11%20Aaina%202010/www.twitter.com/Tasveer_Seattle>

	

	
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cinema
9053 36th Ave South, Seattle, WA 98118
info at tasveer.org <mailto:info at tasveer.org>

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