FEATURE DOCUMENTARY - FROM THE SHADOWS

Dear Family, Friends, Film Lovers and well wishers who believe that the stories of our girl children need to be reimagined and rewritten,

This women’s day 8^thMarch 2021 I share with you a story that has been my obsession for the past 5 years and ask you to support this project. Do it because you believe like me that this story deserves to be completed because it is a fresh perspective on the issue of our missing girls. By contributing to our campaign which will run for 45 days, you are creating a cinematic space for true life stories, girls who wish to emerge `From the Shadows’ and claim their space in the sun.

Love

-Miriam

As a child, my favorite bedtime stories were those told through shadow play—animated forms casting flickering spells on my bedside wall, one of the oldest forms of storytelling. 

Fast forward to the time when I first spotted a child’s silhouette on a wall in Kolkata, tagged #MissingGirls #every8minutes. It stopped me in my tracks. The same shadow then followed me to other cities all over India, and soon made headlines. I felt I had found the Indian Banksy claiming walls and public spaces. But what was the story that lurked behind the shadow? I found the artist, Leena Kejriwal, and started following her. At the time, Leena was recruiting groups of youngsters into her guerilla art project. Her art was provoking a movement. 

Leena took me to where it all began. Her childhood home overlooked Sonagachi, Asia’s biggest red light district, where certain sights and sounds left an indelible impression. Now as a photographer, the city of Kolkata was her muse, and Sonagachi became her obsession. She photographed young girls forced into the sex trade, converting the photos into dark silhouettes representing the black hole of sex trafficking into which... one girl disappears every 8 minutes.

The story turns when a missing girl returns and asks for Leena’s help to file a case against her traffickers. A tale of grueling twists and turns unfolds exposing the extent of institutionalized trafficking. Some clues lie in the neighbouring state of Meghalaya where veteran activist Hasina has helped a survivor secure a triumphant victory, setting a rare legal precedent in a country where the conviction rate is less than 2%.

FROM THE SHADOWS is a film that travels down the most trafficked route in South Asia, shedding light on astonishing young heroes. It connects personal narratives seeking resolution to a larger movement for justice currently sweeping the country. Through a leitmotif of shadow-play and the recurring #missinggirls silhouettes, the film taps into timeless storytelling traditions to weave a modern-day narrative on sex trafficking. 

From the Shadows, is 5 years in the making, building a strong set of international allies to ensure the film reaches a wide audience and makes an impact when it is completed. Selected in 2019 as one of 18 projects for the Global Media Makers programme in Los Angeles by Film Independent and the US State Department. It was the only Asian Project to be selected for Lisbon Docs 2016 (Portugal), Docs Port Incheon 2017 (Korea), Docedge Kolkata 2018 (India), where it was awarded the Docaviv Award (Israel) and Yes Foundation’s Social Documentary Award and Good Pitch 2018 (India). In 2021 it has been selected for the Global Pitch, Sunny Side of the Docs (France) and FIFDH, Impact Day (Geneva)

About Our Team ...

Filament Pictures is a Mumbai based award-winning production house dedicated to making meaningful films with high quality, factual programming for a worldwide audience. Our feature-length documentary films have premiered at the most prestigious international film festivals and broadcast on channels such as Al Jazeera, Arte, DR, National Geographic and Netflix. 

With a background in filmmaking and journalism, Miriam has always made films that celebrate everyday heroes whether it was a rat killer in Mumbai (The Rat Race), children choosing music over violence in an area known for gang warfare (Lyari Notes) or the unsung heroes of Indian cinema (Stuntmen of Bollywood). Now, she turns the spotlight on the valiant survivors of child sexual violence as they emerge `From the shadows’. Miriam’s films have premiered at IDFA Amsterdam, where they were nominated for the Alliance of Women Film Journalists – EDA award, won the Mipdoc Coproduction challenge at Cannes, and was nominated for the youth jury award at Sheffield. They have been broadcast on channels like Arte, National Geographic Channel, Al Jazeera, BBC world and Netflix.

Miriam is one of 18 fellows selected from South Asia and the Middle East for the Global Media Makers Fellowship (2019-2020) with her project From the Shadows by Film Independent (USA) and the US State Department for a 6 week residency in Los Angeles followed by a year round mentorship program. She is backed by a team of passionate and accomplished women from India and USA

Is an acclaimed cinematographer in the documentary space with over 15 years of experience. Her latest work includes a multi disciplinary project publications, Audio-Video Installation and a documentary based at Rajasthan, India ‘Dare to Dream’ a focused on early marriage of girls and; discontinuation of education in Rajasthan!

She has worked as a Joint Director with Nobel Laureate Prof Abhijit Vinayak Bajerjee on ‘ The Magnificent Journey. Some of her other titles are Times and Tales of Democracy’ and ‘Like Whirlwinds’, supported by TED and Sundance Institute.

Aalia has worked as a producer/director in non-fiction and factual programming for more than a decade.  She currently has the challenging jobs of keeping the production and timeline on track, given the COVID 19 crisis. The previous documentaries she has worked on are - Last King of Burma, Robot Jockey and Stuntmen of Bollywood, are all issue based films.

In her wide spectrum of work experience with a reputed production house - UTV, she has produced content for channels like National Geographic and BBC.

Sheena is a Brooklyn based filmmaker and co-founder of ¡Bricolagista!—a subterranean filmmaking collective based between Brooklyn and Mexico City. Sheena’s first feature film as producer, La Voz De Los Silenciados, is told from the unique perspective of a deaf teenager who is trafficked into the US. The film was shot between Guatemala and New York, traveled to over 35 international film festivals and was distributed by Factory25. She is now working on her directorial debut.

Sheena has seen the film evolve over the past few years, and has been a supporter and resource for Miriam, offering a variety of creative contributions to the project.

Claire has come on board as a consulting producer giving the film the vision it requires. Formerly the Director of Programming and Policy at IDA. She has served as a festival juror, programming consultant, and panelist for several prestigious platforms

Alysa is the founder of Ajna Films. Alysa’s directing credits include Unfinished Spaces and The New Bauhaus. She produced the Sundance Jury Award winning (Unrest) by director Jennifer Brea; the scripted feature (No Light and No Land Anywhere) by writer/director Amber Sealey with executive producer Miranda July; an American director, producer, and writer of documentary films. 

Alysa is keen on bringing the film to North America and giving it the correct audience and viewership that it requires.

Founder and Principal of KarmaFilm, Anand Ramayya is a multiple Gemini Award (Canada's Emmy) winning producer focused on filmmaker driven animation, documentary and drama. Ramayya now divides his time between Canada and India to facilitate co production with Like-minded creators.
Ramayya's films have sold widely, screened at numerous festivals internationally and been recognized for reflecting diversity. In addition to producing, Ramayya is a passionate documentary filmmaker.

Anuja has been working as an in-house editor at Coolab Media for the past three years. She has assisted on a number of ad films, promos, short films and web shows. As an editor, she has worked on ad films, TV promos, documentaries and TV shows. 

She particularly enjoys working on immersive documentaries like From The Shadows and Sindhustan..

She has studied Film and video design at MIT Institute of Design.

Baylon is a Multi-faceted and award-winning Sound Designer, Sound Editor and Sound Mixer with over 20 years of experience in Film and Television Audio Production, Sound Post-production for Films and Television, Film Mixing and  Reproduction. 

He is widely known among the Indian film community, having worked on some of Hindi cinema's biggest projects like Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Rock On!!, Kai Po Che!, Game, Mission Istanbul, Happy New Year and Krrish 3. 70 Feature Films | 2 Time National Award Winner (2012) | 2 Time Filmfare Award Winner

Sharon has been with Filament Pictures since 2016. With over a deacde of experience in accounting and finance, she grounds us to our reality! Her experience  also includes  Office Administration, Sales and Marketing. She is a Commerce Graduate with Diploma in Airlines Travel and Tourism Management. 

Amar Sen and Arko Sen create unique visual experiences especially using hand shadowgraphy as a medium of expression. They have been producing these videos since 2010 and worked worldwide for films, ads, events, etc. Their work has netted them awards like International Independent Film Awards for Best Animated Visuals 2019 and Promax Gold - Best Traditional Animation 2020.

Amaan is an artist by heart and trade, who has worked in different areas of design from comics, to campaigns, storyboarding, and sets. Having no prior education in design, he is a self taught artist who took to free resources as his school, and social media as his home. 

Lyari Notes :

Premiered in (2015) at the International Documentary Festival of Amsterdam, In Pakistan a rock star teaches a group of girls to express themselves through music in Karachi’s most volatile district. Hamza Jafri travels in an armed vehicle, a musician famous for his hard hitting political lyrics since 1990s. Since then religious fundamentalism has been on the rise, shops selling music torched, concerts bombed and musicians threatened with death. Seeing the shrinking space for music Hamza opens a music school. Captured over 3 years Lyari Notes is a coming of age film about 4 girls who join. 

The film was a co production with Maheen Zia (Pakistan) with Executive Producer Iikka Vehkalahti (Finland), supported by the IDFA-Bertha Fund, CBA Worldview Fund, Alter Cine Foundation and a crowd fund with over 100 well wishers who believe in the message of music and resistance.

The film was nominated for the Alliance of Women Film Journalists – EDA Award and at Sheffield Documentary Festival nominated for the Youth Jury Award. It was the opening film at South Asian festivals at Austin, Rome and Philadelphia as well as the Artists Cinema Package, Kochi Biennale. It was broadcast on Al Jazeera prime strand Witness and had university screenings at Oxford (UK), Stanford (USA), New York University (USA), School of Oriental and African Studies (UK), Indian Institute of Technology (India), Teachers Foundation

(India). Special screenings in Karachi, Pakistan.

Broadcast/Channels – Al Jazeera International, YLE

The Rat Race :

A legion of hired killers stalks the streets of Mumbai. Ganesh picks up his victim and throws him amongst a heap of dead bodies. He has killed twenty this night, another ten to go before sunrise. Ganesh is one of 50 men hired by Mumbai’s Municipal Corporation to kill rats. They are led by Behram Harda who has killed 2.8 million rats in 37 years. He motivates his team to wage a relentless battle every night against an army of rodents who threaten to take over India's commercial capital. 

The Rat Race paints a moving portrait of India at the crossroads and men who moonlight as rat killers with big city dreams. 

Winner of the Mipdoc Co Production Challenge (Cannes) it premiered at IDFA. Won the Audience Award (Florence), Best Film (Kerala International Film Festival) and the Indian Documentary Producers Award for Best Social Film. The Rat Race has travelled to Chicago, Austin, London, Korea, Amsterdam, Prague and has had theatrical release in India as well the USA. 

Broadcast/Channels - Netflix, Arte, DR, YLE, RSI, NDTV

Please be generous and contribute towards our latest film From the Shadows, as every penny counts. Movies can change hearts and minds. We invite you to become part of the movement this Women’s Day.

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