Towards a more gender-equal society

SEVEN MOVIES on the theme of gender will be screened this week as part of the HeForShe Arts Week Bangkok Film Festival today at SF World Cinema. 
Organised by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the festival features films from India, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Germany, Canada, Australia and Sweden, and is one of the activities being held in parallel with the HeForShe Arts Week Bangkok for the HeForShe Campaign. The event is synchronised in other major cities, namely London, New York, Madrid, Panama City, Paris, Santiago de Chile and Sao Paulo and aims to bring awareness and mobilise broad support for a more gender equal society where the participation of men and boys as agents of change is crucial.
The festival kicks off with the Turkish film “Mustang”, which was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at both the Oscars and the Golden Globes. Set in a village in the north of Turkey, Lale and her four sisters come home from school, innocently playing with boys. The supposed debauchery of their games causes a scandal with unintended consequences. The family home slowly turns into a prison, classes on housework and cooking replace school, and marriages begin to be arranged. The five sisters, driven by the same desire for freedom, fight back against the limits imposed on them.
Next up is “Wadjda”, a comedy drama from Saudi Arabia nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the BAFTA Awards. It tells the story of an enterprising Saudi girl who signs on for her school’s Koran recitation competition as a way to raise the remaining funds she needs to buy the green bicycle that has captured her interest.

Indian-Canadian film “Water”, also nominated for an Oscar Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category, examines the plight of a group of widows forced into poverty at a temple in the holy city of Varanasi. It focuses on a relationship between one of the widows, who wants to escape the social restrictions imposed on widows, and a man who is from the highest caste and a follower of Mahatma Gandhi.
Swedish drama “Force Majeure”, also nominated for Best Foreign Language Film the Golden Globes and the BAFTA Awards this year, portrays a Swedish family on a skiing trip to the French Alps. During a lunch at a mountainside restaurant, an avalanche turns everything upside down. With diners fleeing in all directions, mother Ebba calls for her husband Tomas as she tries to protect their children. Tomas, meanwhile, is running for his life.
Indian-Serbian co-production “The Land of Gods” centres on a man, Rahul, who returns to his village in the Himalayas. This arrival causes consternation amongst the villagers, who have never forgiven him for his sins in the past.
Germany’s entry “Desert Flower” is an autobiography of Waris Dirie, a Somalian nomad circumcised at three, sold in marriage at 13, fleeing Africa a while later to finally become finally an American supermodel, she is now at the age of 38, the UN spokeswoman against circumcision.
The festival will close with Australian documentary “I Am a Girl”, which explores the reality of what it means to be a girl in the 21st century.

NOW SHOWING
- The HeForShe Arts Week Bangkok Film Festival runs from Thursday through Sunday at SF World Cinema.
- All movies have Thai subtitles and admission is free. Ticket can be collected at the festival booth outside the theatre 30 minutes before the screening of every movie. 
- For more information, go to www.SFCinemaCity.com or facebook.com/Welovesf. 
n For updates on the event, follow the hashtag #HeForShe #ArtsWeekBangkok .