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Ananya Chatterjee’s award-winning documentary is a long journey of shocking discoveries about the tragic reality, which is often brushed under the carpet, writes
Shoma A. Chatterji Ananya Chatterjee’s documentary Understanding Trafficking, which recently won the Best Documentary on a Topical Issue issued by UNFPA-Laadli Media Award for Gender Sensitivity 2009-2010, uses the legend of Sita and the Lakshman Rekha that defined the limits of her mobility as an analogy to encourage women to cross this line that separates them from their legitimate desires, aspirations and freedoms. It goes on to explain that the right to seek a better life often gets by the trafficking network, the system and society.
Ananya’s documentaries are almost exclusively on issues related to gender. Halfway Home that received a special mention at MIFF (1996) questioned the tragedy of women NCLs (non-criminal lunatics) inmates of mental institutions. The 25-minute video film explored various dimensions of the oppression of a certain group of women who were imprisoned in Presidency Jail for many years by virtue of an outdated draconian act that did more wrong to them than any law would or could. Another documentary, Mahasweta Devi and the Karmi Soren Junior High School at Tulibarh (2001) was about Karmi Soren, a tribal widow who donated her entire land for the development and construction of a school because, through her life experience, she had acquired the awareness that education alone could lead to the uplift of the tribal community. The project was part of competition floated by IAWRT (International Association for Women in Radio and Television) over three years ago. "I won the competition along with two international film makers. It was funded by FOKUS that stands for women and child welfare, Norway. I called it Understanding Trafficking because it was a process not just to show a few victims, but to understand the process and the politics of trafficking and migration," says Ananya.
Chatterjee’s film insists on redefining the implications of what ‘good’ or ‘bad’ mean for victims of trafficking. Understanding Trafficking tracks the trade across Nepal, Bangladesh and West Bengal in India, through interviews with NGO workers, victims of trafficking, victims who have been rescued and rehabilitated, some pimps and agents who pretend to be social activists and some women who head official organisations working to stop trafficking and rescue innocent victims from this illegal cattle-trading. A highlight of the film is a rehabilitation programme for trafficking victims conducted by the West Bengal-based NGO, Jabala, which works on prevention and rehabilitation of trafficking victims. Jabala organises football camps for the girls. Survivors of trafficking have a lot of anger in them, which they need to take out. So kicking the football is a therapeutic process for them, and playing gives them confidence and becomes a route to empowerment. The camps take place in Murshidabad. Responding to what made her use the mythological analogy, Ananya says, "Usually trafficking victims are handled with a welfare approach. This reinforces the perception that women are weak and vulnerable and therefore need protection. So, they should not venture out. This result limits women and girls from exploring their full potential. If a girl is trafficked, it is very difficult for her to reintegrate herself into the mainstream. The tendency is always to blame her for crossing the line. As a feminist, I feel there should be no man-made boundaries to confine women. I feel that it is the duty of every citizen to help her get reintegrated even if she gets trafficked. She should be free to pursue her dreams and aspirations. I used Sita’s story because religious texts can make a deep impacts in shaping social values and psyches." The film points out that
no separate law exists to punish the trafficking of girls and women
for prostitution. No social or governmental infrastructure exists for
their rescue, rehabilitation, education, training and mainstreaming.
Free trade, established so that goods and services can flow freely, is
one cause for slave labour.`A0 This happens because we lack an
equitable system resulting from a brazen favouring of rich nations
that take free and full advantage of desperately poor people.`A0Understanding
Trafficking is a long journey of shocking discoveries about the
tragic reality of trafficking where girls are made to cross the
Lakshman Rekha by physical force, by diabolic manipulation, sometimes,
even by their parents and close ones to be sold like cattle in the
flesh markets of Nepal, Bangladesh and India.
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