Seattle Asian Art Museum, Seattle – Saturday, April 16th – 3:00 PM
Film Screening
Petals in the Dust: The Endangered Indian Girls
A filmmaker’s personal journey to understand and shed light on the origins and the enormity of the war against Indian women.
The film explores themes of gender discrimination and violence against women in India, ranked the most dangerous country in the world to be a woman. By profiling the unimaginable stories of brave survivors, viewers enter the chilling realities girls and women are currently enduring, NOW, providing a sense of urgency in helping to change status quo.
Synopsis: The Endangered Indian Girls examines the condition of an endangered class of people living in one of the most populous, culturally and economic vibrant countries: modern India. They come from all walks of life and share only one common trait: they are female. A patriarchal mindset, a preference for sons and a deep-seated intolerance has led to the murder of 50 million girls and women in India in the last century. They continue to lose their lives in this century to infanticide, sex selective abortions, starvation and medical neglect, dowry deaths and brutal gang rapes. The declining female population is also leading to increased crimes against women including trafficking and bride buying. By 2020 there will be 20 percent more men than women. The film explores the cultural origins of this vast genocidal crime and includes the voices of activists and gender experts as well survivors of these gender crimes who have struggled to build meaningful lives. With escalating violence against women in India, this film shares the director’s personal journey as a filmmaker to understand and shed light on the enormity of the problem of gender discrimination and violence. By bringing this issue out into the open, the filmmakers hope to light the spark of resistance to this culture of gender violence and “gendercide”, and encourage a new generation of Indian citizens to value and respect their daughters, wives and the women in the community.
PRODUCER AND DIRECTOR Nyna Pais Caputi was born in India and moved to the U.S. in 2002 where she did course work in film making at New York Film Academy. She has worked on several short, award-winning films including “DCBA- Desi Confused by America”, shot in NYC, “Able” shot in Pinole, CA and “Gentle Lovers” shot in San Francisco. She also founded the Global Walk for India’s Missing Girls in 2010 in San Francisco, an international awareness campaign on the violence and genocide of Indian women that has taken place in over 25 cities and five countries. She has screened the preview of Petals in the Dust and spoken on the issue of gender violence in India at organizations in India, Canada and the US including the Commonwealth Club, San Francisco Public Library, UC, San Francisco, UC, Berkeley to name a few. Nyna is also the founder of an organization for international women in the U.S. called The Expat Woman. She has also worked for several non-profit organizations including The Arc, Haight Ashbury Food Program and Upwardly Global.
More about the film at: http://petalsinthedust.com
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0QyZEY1UF4
Contact Info: nynacaputi@gmail.com
Recipient of Women of the Year 2015, California State Assembly, District 14
Recipient,Woman of Distinction 2015, Soroptimist International of Diablo Vista
MediaMaker Fellow 2014, Bay Area Video Coalition
“Petals in the Dust is a critically important documentary and a vital contribution to the understanding of the war against women. This is a film that needs to be seen by all people everywhere.” -Carolyn Scott, Producer and Director, Turtle Island Films
“It was an honor to watch your film. It is moving, sad, powerful and hopeful. The impact of hearing the women tell their stories both well educated and poor women created a powerful moving film. I do think this is an Academy Award Winning piece!” – Audrey Daniel, Producer, Thousand Thread Films; Executive Producer, CultureConnect.tv
Our partner for this film is SeaDoc, Seattle Documentary Association. Website