Library

How I love the world of books and films! Traveling around the world through the wings of words, learning from people’s experiences affirms that we are all part of this journey to eternity and what we do now, defines how the future will be. Over the years my hunger for reading and understanding the world from different perspectives is increasing. Books, films, theatres open a new vista of knowledge. So here are some of the books and films that I have read and watched. Hope you find them insightful, interesting, fun as I did.

Films and documentaries on Women's Rights/ Feminism:

 

I. Rising Women's Score

 Set against the backdrop of a song, A Score for Women's Voices ends at the UN, where women deliver 5 million cards signed during the marches. Their goal? To change the world!

Set against the backdrop of a song, A Score for Women's Voices ends at the UN, where women deliver 5 million cards signed during the marches. Their goal? To change the world!

Set against the backdrop of a song, A Score for Women's Voices ends at the UN, where women deliver 5 million cards signed during the marches. Their goal? To change the world!Set against the backdrop of a song, A Score for Women's Voices ends at the UN, where women deliver 5 million cards signed during the marches. Their goal? To change the world!

Between March and October 2000, millions of people around the world took to the streets to denounce poverty and violence against women. The historic World March of Women was a bold initiative of the Québec Federation of Women and represented a turning point in global solidarity.

Director Sophie Bissonnette invited five filmmakers from around the world to cover the march. She also asked each one to film an innovative project. In Senegal a community battles female genital mutilation through education. In Australia a women's circus teaches survivors of sexual assault to become skilled performers. In India a group of low-caste women mediate domestic disputes in informal women's courts. Native women in Ecuador offer leadership training programs to create women leaders. In the United States, Linda Carney describes why she founded Survival Inc. for poor women in Boston: this wealthy city refused her and her son welfare benefits unless she quit her minimum-wage job.

To place an order for the film click  Here

 

 II. Africa is woman's name

A film by Ingrid Sinclair, Bridget Pickering & Wanjiru Kinyanjui
Spain/Africa, 2009, 52 minutes, Color, DVD, Shona, Subtitled
 
AFRICA IS A WOMAN’S NAME provides an opportunity for three of Africa’s leading filmmakers to tell their own country’s stories through the lives of the powerful women working to create change. Veteran filmmakers Wanjiru Kinyanjui, from Zimbabwe, and Bridget Pickering, from South Africa, join Kenyan Ingrid Sinclair, director of the critically acclaimed feature film FLAME, to profile three diverse women who eloquently demonstrate the power of women.
 
To get further details of the film Here

 

III. Flawed

It’s an animated short about a woman who meets a man who turns out to be a plastic surgeon which, in turn, leads our heroine to question her own imperfections. The brilliance of the film is in the way it’s made – it’s just a series of storyboards being illustrated one after the other, while Andrea’s lyrical voice narrates the story. And it’s a story everyone can identify with.

To watch this short animation film, visit https://flawed.nfb.ca/#/flawed

 

IV. Latching On The Politics of Breast Feeding in America

Highly interesting political film on the interplay of market and women's rights. Watch the trailer at HERE

After filmmaker Katja Esson’s sister gave birth in Germany, she was able to breastfeed her baby anywhere and at any time. Returning home to New York, Esson found that breastfeeding was rarely practiced and largely unseen. Academy Award® Nominee Esson (Ferry Tales) turned her quirky eye on the subject and set out to learn why this was so. Her wide-ranging, frequently funny documentary highlights the intersecting economic, social, and cultural forces that have helped replace mother’s milk with formula produced by a billion dollar industry, and reveals the challenges and rewards for women who buck the trend.

Latching On draws on lively first-hand accounts from mothers of diverse ethnicities and economic backgrounds, as well as candid observations by pediatricians, healthcare providers, lactation specialists, and the proprietor of New York’s first breastfeeding boutique. Including data about paid maternity leave, hospital post-delivery policies, and workplace accommodations for nursing mothers, the film compares current US practices with standards adopted elsewhere. Tensions around public breastfeeding and "breast is best" promotion campaigns highlight society's perceived interest in regulating women's reproductive behavior, as well as the power of culture to assign sexual and moral meaning to mothers' bodies. Entertaining and insightful, Latching On is an important analysis of the politics of breastfeeding, illuminating the complexities behind a simple, natural act.


Get more details about the film at HERE

 

V. Dish Women, Waitressing and the Art of Service

Another lovely film!!

Dish delves into Toronto's diners, Montreal's "sexy restos," Paris' haute eateries, and Tokyo's fantasy "maid bars" in an insider's look at gender, power, and the art of service. Former waitress and Gemini award-winning director Maya Gallus dines out and dishes the dirt with waitresses, restaurant owners, and maitre d's about the demands of the job. From the hustle of a busy truck stop to the discreet hush of a Parisian house of fine dining, Dish serves up a delicious and illuminating look at the lives of women in the restaurant biz.

Enter their world. Experience life on the other side. You'll never look at a waitress the same way again.

To watch it or further information, click HERE

Films on Market/ Corporates:

 

The Corporation Part I and Part II

I loved this film for it's simplicity to put forth a very strong argument. And I do believe very strongly in this argument. I highly recommend this film. https://www.thecorporation.com/

WINNER OF 26 INTERNATIONAL AWARDS! 10 Audience Choice Awards including the 2004 Sundance Film Festival.

Provoking, witty, stylish and sweepingly informative, THE CORPORATION explores the nature and spectacular rise of the dominant institution of our time. Part film and part movement, The Corporation is transforming audiences and dazzling critics with its insightful and compelling analysis. Taking its status as a legal "person" to the logical conclusion, the film puts the corporation on the psychiatrist's couch to ask "What kind of person is it?" The Corporation includes interviews with 40 corporate insiders and critics - including Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Milton Friedman, Howard Zinn, Vandana Shiva and Michael Moore - plus true confessions, case studies and strategies for change.

The film is based on the book The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power by Joel Bakan.