KOCHI: As the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) turns a year old, the non-profit organisation has announced plans to form a committee to study the problems faced by the women in the industry; film festivals and other programmes focusing on women empowerment; discussions with unions in every area of the industry; a possible government liaison; and introduction of a new award called Bechdel Awards (given to films where two women talk about anything other than a man).
At an event to commemorate WCC’s first anniversary here aptly titled ‘Punarvayana’, actor Revathi introduced the new phase of WCC and emphasised the importance of lending ears to the problems of not just the female members of the film fraternity, but also those of the opposite gender. The non-profit organisation, which was an immediate response to the actress assault case from last year, was formed by Manju Warrier, Rima Kallingal, Parvathy, Beena Paul and Anjali Menon and other actors and technicians, with the aim of handling the many issues faced by female members in the industry.
Revathy said WCC will work hard on rectifying the mistakes made last year and will put more energy into delivering on the promises made at the organisation’s inception. She also addressed the need to encourage more women to come forward and engage in a dialogue to come up with solutions. Apart from Revathi, actors Parvathy, Padmapriya and Geethu Mohandas were also present.
Several members from the audience, including those from the LGBT community, spoke about bringing more attention to WCC through all forms of media, especially social media. Veteran actress Pauly Valsan was felicitated at the event. This was followed by a screening of Ketan Mehta’s Mirch Masala. The screening is supposedly the first of many more screenings to come.
