Akshita Vohra (BOMBAY TIMES; January 11, 2025)
2024 was a standout year for India’s female directors in the film festival circuit. The highlight of the past year was All We Imagine As Light’s two Golden Globe nominations – while the film didn’t win, it came very close to making history. However, despite better representation and support, women directors say there’s still a long way to go when it comes to celebrating the female gaze in the film festival space.
‘Women filmmakers are finally finding the recognition and support they deserve’
Deepti Dcunha, artistic director MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, says, “MAMI has had a great ratio of female filmmakers over the years, and in 2024 specially. When we are programming or constituting our selection committee, we ensure that we do have a conversation about giving a platform to directors who are otherwise discriminated against. But at the same time, it is not that a director is only selected because she is a woman.”
In 2023, the percentage of films directed by female filmmakers in the fest was 2%, which changed to around 25% in 2024. Out of 45 feature films screened at the Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF), 24 were directed by women.
Festival co-founder Ritu Sarin tells us, “All films are selected on merit, which is why the fact that 24 out of 45 feature films were directed by women is an incredible milestone. It demonstrates that women filmmakers have always been capable of making high quality cinema but are finally finding the recognition and support they deserve.”
Talking about providing this support and recognition at one of the biggest film festivals in India, International Film Festival of India’s Associate Film Programmer, Kanika Katyal, says, ‘‘The programming was done in such a way that we ensured gender parity in the curation, especially in the competition. A broad range of films were offered to the selection committee to choose from which were directed by women filmmakers. This would ensure that enough films from female filmmakers and also other diverse options made it to the competition.”
About the change in numbers at IFFI 2024, she adds, “We have had nine female directed films out of 15 in the main Golden Peacock Award. That comes to 60%, which is a rare occurrence. How often do you see that happen in a film festival?”
‘It’s not easy to go into a room full of men & try to sell your film’
Even after these recognitions at the film festivals, taking a female directed film for distribution, release in the male dominant space is still a challenge.
Vaidaangi Sharma, whose film Chhat was screened at MAMI, says, “I am just waiting for the day when there are more women in the distributor room. It’s not easy to go into a room full of men and try to sell your film. What has happened with All We Imagine As Light is difficult to happen with a purely independent regional film made here in India. Distribution for a festival film is very small, specially for a female directors’ film.”
Adding to this insensitivity that sometimes female filmmakers have to go through in this country, Prachee Bajania tells us, “At my panel at MAMI, a man walked up to me and said if everyone is going to talk about women now then who is going to talk about men, and I told him that there has been so much conversation around men that I don’t know why it should even be a concern now. We have seen this happen a lot in popular media in India. Thankfully the audience at the festivals is niche so it changes the dynamics there.”
‘Important to tell stories from the female gaze’
Prachee Bajania, whose film Umbro won Best Documentary at Beijing International Film Festival and was screened at DIFF, says, “Seeing festivals prioritize female-directed films not just for representation or tokenism but for the unique narratives women bring to the screen is encouraging. It’s not just about these being films made by female filmmakers — it’s also about the importance of the stories they tell, which might be why they are being selected.”
Talking about these stories bringing a female gaze to the film festivals, Farha Khatun, a two-time National Award-winning filmmaker and jury member at Kolkata International Film Festival, feels, “I saw Payal’s film and you can notice that when a female director tells a story, it’s a very different perspective. But because we are so used to seeing a man’s perspective in cinema, it is taking us time to accept this. And now I feel these nuances are finally being picked up with the selection of more such films at Indian film festivals.”
Nidhi Saxena, who was the first female filmmaker from India to win the prestigious Asian Cinema Fund 2024 and had her film screened at DIFF in 2024, says, “It was interesting to see people watch the film from a female gaze and have so many women appreciate and relate to it. I felt it was a newfound sisterhood at these festivals for me this year. Women filmmakers today are trying to not just find new stories but also new form and narrative for their stories.”
‘When we see the west being more inclusive, it trickles down’
Over the past year, female directed films like Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light, Shuchi Talati’s Girls Will Be Girls, and Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies have earned nominations and awards at prestigious events such as Cannes and Sundance. While some female filmmakers feel this progress is insufficient to bring lasting change to Indian film festivals, others view it as a ray of hope.
DIFF co-founder Ritu Sarin says, “Over the past few years, there has been a growing awareness in the global film industry that women filmmakers were being discriminated against, and consequently, a conscious push to redress this imbalance. Although this signals a shift in perception, the film industry is still largely a male-dominated one, and systemic change will take time.”
Deepti Dcunha, Artistic Director MAMI, also resonates with the sentiment as she says, “We are still looking at what the west is validating as a good film, when it comes to programming. When we see them make a conscious decision of being more inclusive, with women directors, women jury members, it trickles down here as well, leading to a better representation.”