India's women filmmakers make a mark in global fest circuit

New Delhi: Standing out among a new generation of Indian filmmakers making waves in the global festival circuit is a brave bunch of female directors who are exploring Indian womanhood across social strata and in all its facets.

Alankrita Shrivastava, Shonali Bose, Gitanjali Rao, Zoya Akhtar and Tanuja Chandra are adding the new-age relevance and power to the Indian film industry. They are also addressing issues pertaining to women and society at large with nuanced sensitivity and creativity.

"More and more women should make films. It is very important for the female point of view to be well represented in films. And if a woman is helming the project, there are better chances to portray female-oriented stories in a correct way ," Alankrita said.Interestingly, all these women have become much sought after at international film festivals.

Alankrita's upcoming movie Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare will have a world premiere at the 24th Busan International Film Festival. Her previous film Lipstick Under My Burkha was also premiered at the Tokyo International Film Festival.

Gitanjali Rao's Bombay Rose will be screened at the Busan International Film Festival, following the world premiere at the 2019 Venice Film Festival. It also had its North American premiere in the contemporary World Cinema section at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on September 7.

Shonali Bose's upcoming Bollywood drama The Sky is Pink, which features actor Priyanka Chopra, will also have its world premiere at TIFF as one of 20 Gala presentations.

Also, Sangharsh fame director Tanuja Chandra's "Aunty Sudha Aunty Radha" was screened at the Madrid International

Film Festival 2019 and is all set for a US premiere.

Besides, Zoya Akhtar's Gully Boy won hearts in South Korea, bagging the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema Award at the 23rd Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN).

The encouraging change in attitude towards female filmmaking has contributed to this aspect.

Last year, several major film festivals, including Cannes, Venice and Locarno, signed the 50/50 by 2020 gender parity pledge, which commits festivals to promote gender equality in the industry and to get equal number of men and women in their top managementFemale filmmakers in India, however, proved time and

again that when it comes to crafting beautiful cinematic aesthetics, they often scale rare excellence

heights .