Join Saida Waheed Gender Initiative (SWGI) for a virtual film screening and panel discussion event on ‘Exploring Feminism and Fun through Film’ with Dr. Nida Kirmani, Dr. Shilpa Phadke, and Dr. Kamran Asdar as the moderator.
April 20, 2021
Time:
6:00 PM
Facebook Live
Saida Waheed Gender Initiative (SWGI) is organising a virtual film screening and panel discussion event ‘Exploring Feminism and Fun through Film’.
Date: Tuesday, April 20, 2021
Time: 6 pm (PKT)
The event will be live streamed on Facebook. Please ask your questions in the comment section of the live stream.
We look at two amazing short films exploring themes around gender, space, and fun.
Film abstracts
Khel Khel Mein (Playing at the Boundary)
Khel Khel Mein (Playing at the Boundary) tells the story of three young people from the area of Lyari in Karachi--an area that is known for being one of the most conflict-ridden parts of the city. However, Lyari is also one of the oldest, most diverse and vibrant parts of the city. Each of the young people featured in this documentary are pushing gender boundaries in their own unique ways. Mehreen is a champion boxer. Zulekha teaches girls and young women how to cycle and takes them out for regular rides, and Sidu is an activist who challenges gender roles and binaries. All three are struggling to bring a change in their communities and in society in general and having fun in the process.
Khule Aasman Ke Neeche (Under the Open Sky)
"Citizenship of a city is a visceral thing... For women to truly claim citizenship, we must be able to claim public spaces with our bodies, by writing our claim everyday through our movements."
– Why Loiter? Women and Risk on Mumbai Streets (2011)
What changes when a girls' football initiative begins to claim open public spaces to play in Mumbra, a far-flung suburb in the Mumbai Metropolitan region? Quite a lot actually! For women and girls occupying open public space in the city to play is an act of feminist claim staking. This film follows the Parcham women's football team as they play and coach a younger generation of girls, in the process transforming not just the way they see themselves and their bodies but potentially transforming the way we see our cities.
Panelists:
Dr. Nida Kirmani is an Associate Professor of Sociology in the Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani School of Humanities and Social Sciences at LUMS. She has published widely on issues related to gender, Islam, women’s movements, development and urban studies in India and Pakistan. Her current research focuses on urban violence, gender and insecurity in the area of Lyari in Karachi.
Dr. Shilpa Phadke is a Professor at the School of Media and Cultural Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences. She is co-author of Why Loiter? Women and Risk on Mumbai Streets. Her areas of interest include gender and public space, middle class sexualities, feminist mothering, young women and feminism, feminist pedagogies.
Discussant:
Dr. Kamran Asdar Ali is a professor of Anthropology, Middle East Studies and Asian Studies. He served as the Director of the South Asia Institute at the University of Texas, Austin (2011-2017). Dr. Ali was also the Dean of the Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani School of Humanities and Social Sciences at LUMS. He has conducted field research in Mexico, Egypt and in Pakistan on issues pertaining to health and gender, ethnicity, class politics, sexuality and popular culture. He has published several articles on issues of health and gender in Egypt and on ethnicity, class politics, sexuality and popular culture in Pakistan.
