.png)
3 hours ago
9 ARTICLE AD
EXCLUSIVE: Oscar-nominated filmmaker Nisha Pahuja is partnering with major NGOs to launch a global gender justice campaign inspired by her acclaimed documentary To Kill a Tiger.
The #StandWithHer initiative, supported by Equality Now, Equimundo, and MenEngage Alliance, announced three principal goals: “Empower survivors of sexual assault and GBV [Gender-Based Violence] to seek justice; create a culture of shared responsibility, inviting men and boys to become allies; and prevent GBV through education and social narrative change.”
The vision for #StandWithHer is built on what the campaign identifies as “four integrated pillars”: Public Awareness and Mobilization, Political Advocacy, Education and Prevention, and Media and Social Media campaigns.
To Kill a Tiger, executive produced by Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Dev Patel, Mindy Kaling among others, tells a story of remarkable courage from a rural part of India’s Jharkhand state. Ranjit, a farmer, and his wife Jaganti bravely stood behind their 13-year-old daughter Kiran (a pseudonym used to protect the teenager’s identity) after she became the victim of a violent sexual assault by three young men. Kiran’s parents refused to bow to intense pressure from their neighbors who demanded the couple marry their daughter to one of her attackers and drop their case against the assailants.
In a statement, Pahuja said of the #StandWithHer campaign, “For the past few years, my team and I have been working tirelessly toward this moment-supported by partners, organizations, and thinkers who’ve been at the forefront of gender rights for decades. As filmmakers, we understand the power of story, especially documentary, and its singular ability to unite people around an issue. The eradication of sexual violence and GBV needs the commitment of all of us. And, it needs those sparks around which we can all gather – first, to simply envision a different world, and then, the roadmap to help create it. With To Kill a Tiger, we have a powerful tool – the power of Ranjit’s love and the wisdom and courage of his daughter Kiran, are those rare elements around which movements can form and the seeds of change planted.”
#StandWithHer will kick off with at least 40 in-person screenings of To Kill a Tiger around the U.S., a tour that will include stops in New York, Chicago, Dallas, Austin, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, and Washington DC. “Each event will be followed by conversations with Pahuja, the film’s participants, gender rights activists, legal and political experts, and Executive Producers,” notes a release.
“The courage and resilience shown by Kiran, her father, and their family in their fight for justice—despite the odds stacked against them—shine a light on the deep-rooted inequalities that still exist worldwide,” E.P. Priyanka Chopra Jonas said in a statement. “Gender-based violence is a global crisis, yet too often, it remains hidden in the shadows. I am honored to support the #StandWithHer campaign, inspired by Nisha’s powerful documentary To Kill A Tiger, to help drive meaningful change. This campaign is a reminder that love, when fearless and unwavering, has the strength to transform the world.”
Fellow E.P. Dev Patel said, “I am so proud to see the impact of To Kill A Tiger grow beyond the screen with the launch of the #StandWithHer campaign. This is one of the most important stories in modern Indian history, and with this campaign, we can really start to see and understand its capacity to empower and serve as a catalyst for change.”
E.P. Mindy Kaling commented, “The #StandWithHer campaign embodies what has always been at the heart of Ranjit, Jaganti, and Kiran’s mission, when they fought for justice for Kiran in the wake of her sexual assault, and the incredible filmmaker Nisha Pahuja’s mission when she amplified their story of bravery and hope on-screen. This campaign is one crucial step towards a world free from gender-based violence, a world we deserve and will fight for to see in our lifetimes. I am so proud to support this campaign and the survivors across the world who inspire us every day by risking their lives to fight for justice for themselves and to advocate selflessly for others.”
The #StandWithHer campaign will move internationally in September, with over 75 in-person screenings now planned. “To ensure the long-term sustainability of the impact campaign,” a release says, “Blueshift Education and Roco Films will create and distribute a comprehensive curriculum inspired by To Kill a Tiger. In two years, the curriculum will reach 1.2 million students in 25,000-50,000 schools across the U.S.”
The impact campaign is being led by much of the same all-women team who spearheaded To Kill a Tiger’s awards push, which culminated with an Oscar nomination despite the film having no U.S. distribution until Oscar Sunday last March, when the documentary made its debut on Netflix. #StandWithHer will be collaborating with over 60 partners, including Equality Now, Equimundo, MenEngage Alliance, ValorUS, the Ramesh and Kalpana Bhatia Family Foundation, Sakhi for South Asian Survivors, South Asian SOAR, BlueshiftEducation, Roco Films, Object&Animal, Prism Entertainment, and Product of Culture. The campaign is produced by Notice Pictures Inc.
According to UN Women, the United Nations entity dedicated to gender equality and empowerment of women, an estimated 736 million women “have been subjected to physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence, non-partner sexual violence, or both at least once in their life (30 per cent of women aged 15 and older)…
“Most violence against women is committed by current or former husbands or intimate partners. More than 640 million women aged 15 and older (26 per cent) have been subjected to intimate partner violence.”
Among those voicing strong support for the #StandWithHer campaign is Ziauddin Yousafzai, co-founder of The Malala Fund, and father of Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai. “To Kill a Tiger is an inspiring real-life story with the power to shake the foundations of deeply-rooted patriarchal norms,” he said. “Against all odds, Ranjit’s unwavering conviction to support his daughter in the face of political and social pressure, is remarkable. He represents the kind of man all men should be proud of, and the kind of father all men should aspire to be. Kiran—true to the meaning of her chosen pseudonym—is more than a ray of hope; she is the sunshine of a new dawn of equality and human dignity as she shifts the burden of blame and shame from the victim to the perpetrators.”
Alluding to the family’s successful attempt to prosecute Kiran’s assailants, Ziauddin Yousafzai said, “The historic court decision reinforces a vital truth: rape is not a stain on the innocent victim but an ugly mark on an unjust society. Kiran and her father wield the tools of social, political, and legal systems against the tiger of ruthless patriarchy.”
