DOC NYC / SOMA Film Festival 2019 – Brave Girls
In a small town in India, the opportunity to go back to school has opened up the possibility of a different life for Karishma, Apsana and Samira. But even as they prepare for final exams, their families begin preparations for their arranged weddings, threatening to pull them back into the prescribed roles of wives and mothers. Immediately, they are forced to choose between their evolving dreams and their obligations to their community.
Interview with Director Ellie Walton
Watch Brave Girls on Prime Video and Vimeo on demand
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
Although we grew up in different parts of the world, we were both rebels in our own ways, determined to carve out an independent path and be treated no different than our older brothers. This childhood sass led us on journeys fuelled by a curiosity about everyday revolutionaries, people who were going against the grain to create more equitable spaces. Our paths finally crossed in a small town in India, where we arrived with a backpack full of donated digital cameras and no agenda except to give young women a chance to explore their lives through a lens. Soon we were in deep with a group of girls that had just decided to join a new program, which gave them a second chance to finish school. After 3 months of digital storytelling workshops, their short films were selected at a feminist film festival, where the girls shared the stage with Bollywood film directors. One week after the screening of their digital stories we received a phone call from one of the girls, sharing that she was considering running from her arranged marriage so that she could pursue her dream to finish school and get a job. We made our film to capture this journey for self-determination, to lift up their struggles and triumphs as they risked everything for true love and equality.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
You should watch this film because you will be drawn into the lives of three young Muslim women who are actively rewriting traditions in their small conservative town. Because the film shows their strength and determination and you will be moved to root for them. Because right now, we find ourselves in an extraordinary moment in history. From the women’s marches to the “silence breakers”, we have seen an international reckoning that continues to reshape cultures in terms of gender equality. For the other 3.6 billion women in the world, the stories may vary but it is clear that the demand of women to realize their full potential are being heard across the globe. Brave Girls explores three young women on their journey, as they ask urgent questions for their livelihood and face the consequences of answering them.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
Brave Girls is a universal coming-of-age story of teenagers falling in love, rebelling against social norms and imagining a life different than that of their parents. The film is also a deeply personal portrait of three young women, caught between following their dreams and their obligations to a community they cherish.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
Initially, we were capturing the young women’s journey back to school, looking at the power of education to reroute one’s life path. But a few months after we arrived, a deeper story revealed itself, as the new-found agency of being at school opened up new questions about their arranged marriages. While the young women were interviewing each other as part of the workshop process, they sparked the question, “Do you believe in love marriage or arranged marriage?” We’ll never forget Karishma’s response to one girl’s commitment to her arranged marriage, “But how can you give up on your dreams?” As we began post-production, we also experimented with including the personal voice of Yashaswi (co-director) to guide the narrative, as she was also struggling with the same questions. But ultimately decided to let the young women’s stories speak for themselves.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
Even though our premiere landed the same night as a spontaneous blizzard in New York, we had a sold-out crowd at DOC NYC. The film struck a chord with the growing global movement to speak loud and proud for gender equality. Audiences have been really moved by the intimacy of the film, the deeply personal and complicated relationship between the mothers and daughters, and the honest exploration of the frustrating and inspiring process of rewriting traditions. They have also really appreciated the observational style of the film, which throws them into the world without telling them what to think or feel.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
We recently launched a grassroots screening campaign in India, where Yashaswi and the young women featured in the film have been sharing Brave Girls at schools, NGOs, and community centers. This has sparked open discussion about why girls are running away from home and how best communities can support the dreams of girls. However, the film has also been received with some resistance, due to the fear that their stories might encourage other girls to run away. This rigidity surprised some of our team, really challenged us to think about how we are framing the film and prompted us to spend much more time discussing what it means to be brave with the group before we press play. We realized that brave is not always the heroic leaps against a norm, but sometimes the quieter act of simply sharing from the heart, or openly discussing gender equity.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
We are really excited about connecting with more people, artists, schools, organizations who are exploring gender equity, who are finding ways to support girls and young women fighting for change, and who are creating spaces for open dialogue about issues affecting young women worldwide.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
Buyers, film festival directors, journalist and educational distributors.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
To explore how long-standing traditions are overcome. To explore the courage of young women who are at the forefront of this struggle. On the one hand, these girls are activists leading the charge for women's empowerment in their small town, and on the other hand, they are simply teenagers falling in love, watching Bollywood film stars risk everything for romance, with the weight of their family's reputation on their shoulders.
To show the complexity of this tradition, where families spend years finding a match for their daughters as a way of protecting them, and where teenage girls sometimes run away with their first boyfriend and lose their entire social fabric for a relationship that doesn't last.
To open conversations across India with young women and their families about what it means for girls to make healthy choices for themselves. So many girls are angry about a future serving their in-laws, are struck by the romance of love marriage, and have no outlets to work through the rollercoaster of thoughts and feelings.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
How do we rewrite traditions? When must we stand up and break from unjust social norms and when is it the better choice to accommodate our community?
Interview: March 2019
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
Brave Girls
In a small town in India, the opportunity to go back to school has opened up the possibility of a different life for Karishma, Apsana and Samira. But even as they prepare for final exams, their families begin preparations for their arranged weddings, threatening to pull them back into the prescribed roles of wives and mothers. Immediately, they are forced to choose between their evolving dreams and their obligations to their community.
Length: 1:08:25
Director: Yashaswi Desai and Ellie Walton
Producer: Tanisha Christie
About the writer, director and producer:
YASHASWI DESAI (Co-Director): Born and raised in Gujarat, India, Ms Desai is a multimedia artist, facilitator and holistic healer. She was a curator and organizer of the film program and festival, Yes I am The Change, which encouraged communities across India to document their own motivational stories. She is passionate about sharing stories that inspire reflection. Brave Girls is her first feature-length film project.
ELLIE WALTON (Co-Director/Director of Photography): Ms Walton is a D.C. based documentary filmmaker, committed to sharing stories of everyday revolutionaries and misfits. Her award-winning documentaries include Chocolate City, Walk With Me, and Fly By Light. She is an ongoing collaborator with the production company, Meridian Hill Pictures, including as the cinematographer for City of Trees, which screened at Full Frame and was nationally broadcast on PBS' America Reframed, and as the editor for the Webby Award-winning documentary series The Messy Truth With Van Jones. Walton is a Fulbright Scholar and the recipient of the DC Mayor’s Arts Award, the highest honor given to an individual artist in Washington, DC. www.elliewalton.com.
TANISHA CHRISTIE (Producer): Ms Christie is an award-winning, black/Latino interdisciplinary performing artist, producer and clinical social worker who began her documentary career working as a production assistant on Citizen King (directors Bagwell & Walker). She went on to work on one-off documentary projects for Bravo and Discovery Channel. Her feature documentary Walk With Me (Hulu, Amazon, GooglePlay) has been screened internationally and won film festival awards, including Best Documentary. She produces and directs social justice film projects organizations such as the Child Labor Coalition and the Black Alliance of Just Immigration. She is also an award-winning theater artist (2017 Map Fund grantee for bathtub and is currently a subject of JD Urban’s The Revolution Is Uncomfortable, a digital documentary project featured in the 19th Annual Film Columbia Festival in 2018.
Looking for: journalists, buyers, film festival directors
Facebook: Brave Girls
Twitter: @BraveGirlsFilm
Instagram: @bravegirlsfilm
Hashtags used: #BeBrave #BraveGirlsFilm #supportgirlseducation #showlovefordaughters
Website: www.bravegirlsfilm.com
Made in association with: aya arts and media / sublime madness
Funders: Fulbright Program, Imago Global Grassroots, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? SOMA Film Festival / Maplewood and South Orange, NJ