"At Home in the World": Female Filmmakers from the Global South

Grant:

Instructional Development Fund (IDF)

Academic Year:

2019 - 2020 (June 1, 2019 through May 31, 2020)

Funding Requested:

$350.00

Project Dates:

Tue, 03/10/2020 - Sat, 03/21/2020

Applicant(s):

swapnilr

Overview of the Project:

This grant will help fund an industry speaker for two projects:

: "At Home in the world: Transnational Women's Cinema": The course examines women’s films produced within national and transnational geo-cultural spaces posing questions about national versus exilic or postcolonial auteur subjectivities. In doing so we will analyze the films’ aesthetics, institutional context of production, global circulation and situate them within the larger theoretical framework of transnational feminist scholarship. To help students understand the perspective of filmmaking in the Global South I want to invite a speaker from India to video conference with the students. She has written the screenplay for the controversial feminist film "Lipstick Under My Burka" that was banned by the Indian Censors for being too "lady oriented".

: Concurrently, I am teaching a second course on Global Media where the class critically examines the role that film, television, video games, and other media play in shaping our sense of global, national, and local cultures and identities. The primary assignment for this class focuses on Netflix and the speaker identified for project one is currently working on multiple projects for Netflix India. The CRLT grant would enable me to offer the speaker an honorarium that would make it worthwhile for her to speak to both my classes about her experience as a woman in a male dominated film industry as well as the dynamics of Netflix's localization in transnational markets.

Budget:

Honorarium for speaker : 2 Lectures : $ 350

Final Report Fields

Project Objectives:

This grant will help fund an industry speaker for two projects:

: "At Home in the world: Transnational Women's Cinema": The course examines women’s films produced within national and transnational geo-cultural spaces posing questions about national versus exilic or postcolonial auteur subjectivities. In doing so we will analyze the films’ aesthetics, institutional context of production, global circulation and situate them within the larger theoretical framework of transnational feminist scholarship.

To help students understand the perspective of filmmaking in the Global South I want to invite a speaker from India to video conference with the students. She has written the screenplay for the controversial feminist film "Lipstick Under My Burka" that was banned by the Indian Censors for being too "lady oriented".

: Concurrently, I am teaching a second course on Global Media where the class critically examines the role that film, television, video games, and other media play in shaping our sense of global, national, and local cultures and identities. The primary assignment for this class focuses on Netflix and the speaker identified for project one is currently working on multiple projects for Netflix India.

The CRLT grant would enable me to offer the speaker an honorarium that would make it worthwhile for her to speak to both my classes about her experience as a woman in a male dominated film industry as well as the dynamics of Netflix's localization in transnational markets.

Project Achievements:

Inviting guest speakers from the industry was very useful for both my classes. Interaction with the speaker helped my Global Media students understand Netflix's complicated global media strategy, globalization and media interconnectedness from a tangible production perspective and helped them put it in conversation with the theoretical models that they learnt in class. Similarly, the speaker could provide their invaluable perspective on striving to create a unique voice and vision through their work in a male dominated film industry. The students in both classes really appreciated the value that these talks brought to their understanding of Women's Cinema and Global Media. The talks also addressed the future of the media industries after COVID19.

Continuation:

The video of the speaker's lecture can be used for future classes and/or other courses

Dissemination:

The teaching achievements enabled through this grant have been highlighted in the Film, TV and Media Department's newsletter . I have included the newsletter under supplemental docs.

Advice to your Colleagues:

I think the primary factor behind the success of this program was the promptness and immediacy with which CRLT responded to my request. The guest speaker was available during a limited time period and I could get her to commit to a day & time quickly because CRLT understood the value of the project and approved my request expeditiously.

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