There are several things that make maximum city Mumbai a sensorial smorgasbord — a ride on the Mumbai local is probably on top of that list. How does the urban Indian woman experience the poetic rhythm of the city and how does she find herself amid the cacophony of cultures, languages and faces?
Vikalp Bengaluru in collaboration with Bangalore International Centre will screen Ladies Only (2021), a feature-length documentary by Rebana Liz John that explores the answer to this question. Produced by the Academy of Media Arts Cologne, the film looks at the experience of women in Mumbai’s trains.
A feminist exploration
In the documentary, a small crew enters the ladies’ compartments of the local trains in Mumbai and invites women to reveal their opinions, confessions and stories in a ‘public’ space. Black-and-white images distil the essence of the space while providing insight into how urban Indian women see and shape their lives. Through a feminist lens, the filmmaker explores what ambitions and freedoms mean for women in a hyper-industrial, wealth-driven and complex world, the team says.
The film will be screened on February 13, 2023 at 6.30 p.m at BIC Domlur. The director with cinematographer Milann Tress John, location sound recordists Navya Sah and Ankita Purkayastha will be present for the post-screening conversation.
Multiple awards
Rebana Liz John is an artist-filmmaker who made filmmaking her primary medium while studying at the Srishti School of Art, Design & Technology in Bengaluru. She recently graduated from the postgraduate programme in Film/Media Art at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne, Germany. Her works delve into experimentation in non-fiction narratives, art in public space, animation and writing.
Ladies Only premiered at the Busan International Film Festival 2021. It won the Compass Perspective Prize at the Berlinale 2022, the Second Best Documentary at the International Documentary Short Film Festival Kerala (IDSFFK 2022) as well as the Best Women’s Film Award — Nepal Cultural International Film Festival 2022.
