Film fest on gender, consent & law

Bhopal: A two-day film festival screening a curated collection of films on the theme of ‘gender, consent and the law’ will begin at Shaheed Bhawan on Friday. The event is being organised by Eka Bhopal along with Parimal Lab, Madhya Pradesh Police, department of women and child development, MP government and BSSS college. The line-up includes independent Indian cinema like ‘Turup’, which was screened at the MAMI film festival in Mumbai. ‘Turup’ is a crowd-funded, crowd-directed film which uses the social ritual of chess at Bhopal’s Chakki Chouraha as a political metaphor/allegory to discuss the regressive fault-lines and marginalised perspectives of contemporary India. Marjane Satrapi’s globally-acclaimed film ‘Persepolis’ will also be shown. ‘Persepolis’ follows a girl growing up under the turbulent regime changes and repressive fundamentalism of Iran, and navigating her place in the world. The screenwriter and cinematographer of the cinema vérité film ‘Turup’, Maheen Mirza, will be attending the inauguration of the festival along with Vineet Kapoor from Parimal Lab, Madhya Pradesh police, and Suresh Tomar from the department of women and child development.The festival will feature documentaries, feature films and music videos exploring the themes of the festival, followed by discussion sessions on said films.The second day of the film festival will be held at BSSS college, commencing with the documentary ‘A Safe Person To Talk To’. The two-day event aims to foster an understanding around the issues of gender politics, consent and the importance of law and the tenets of the constitution.