HOLY RIGHTS - BITCHITRA COLLECTIVE
CHECK OUT THE BITCHITRA COLLECTIVE HERE International Premiere: 54th HOF International Film Festival | The Prestigious President's Indian National Film Award for Best Film on Social Issues | Impactful Film of the Year at Vancouver International Women in Films Festival | Winner of International Documentary Long at RIFFA Gender Equality • Muslim Women Empowerment • Religious Laws and Social Justice • India • Sharia • Triple Talaq • Islamic Studies Date of Completion: 2020 | Run Time: 52 minutes | Language: Urdu with English subtitles | Captions: Yes | Includes: Transcript | Director: Farha Khatun | Producer: Priyanka More | Associate Director: Biswajit Das | Cinematographers: Debalina & Priyanka Biswas | Editor: Sankha Safia, a deeply religious Muslim woman from Bhopal in Central India, driven by her belief that because of the patriarchal mindset of the interpreters of 'Sharia', Muslim women are denied equality and justice in the community. She joins a program that trains women as Qazis, (Muslim clerics who interpret and administer the personal law), which is traditionally a male preserve. The film documents her journey as she struggles and negotiates through hitherto uncharted territory, exploring the tensions that arise when women try to change the status quo and take control of narratives that so deeply affect their lives. Through Safia 'Apa ' or elder sister as she is called, several other women join the program; through their lived experiences, the film comments on the arbitrariness of the instant 'triple talaq' practice (Instant divorce by saying Talaq thrice). These and other landmark moments, political and legal, find reference in the film as does the changing socio-political scenario that impact their lives. In its four years journey, the film also documents the movement against Triple Talaq, Muslim women’s struggles to break free of patronizing voices within the community as well as resist forces outside from appropriating their movement to suit their own political agenda.