Son Rise

Son Rise is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language documentary film directed and produced by Vibha Bakshi. The film is set in Haryana, infamous for its strongly embedded patriarchy. Yet, from this unlikeliest place, Vibha Bakshi's Son Rise follows those who are trying to break the shackles of patriarchy and fight for women's rights.[1] The film was inspired by the United Nations's HeForShe movement.[2]

This article is about an Indian documenary film. For a home-based program for children and adults, see Son-Rise.
Not to be confused with Son-Rise: A Miracle of Love or Son-Rise: The Miracle Continues.
Son Rise
Directed byVibha Bakshi
Produced byVibha Bakshi
CinematographyAttar Singh Saini
Edited byHemanti Sarkar
Release date
  • 19 February 2019 (2019-02-19)
Running time
49 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi, English

Son Rise has been a recipient of numerous accolades, including the National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Film and the National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Film Editing, awarded to Hemanti Sarkar, at 66th National Film Awards.[3][4][5]

Son Rise was selected as the opening film at Indian Panorama, at 50th International Film Festival of India (IFFI)[6] and was awarded the Jury Award for Best Documentary at the Mumbai International Film Festival. The MIFF jury citation said "A strong and powerful film that gives us a fresh perspective in combating India's crisis on gender inequality with a clear potential for impacting social change".[7]

Synopsis

The documentary is filmed in Haryana which borders the capital, New Delhi. The state's deep-rooted patriarchal norms have led to illegal yet rampant gender-selective abortions resulting in the nearly complete absence of girls in the state’s villages. This, in turn, has led to bride buying/bride kidnapping traffic and provoked an unprecedented number of crimes against women. While shedding light on these prevalent issues, the film focuses on ordinary men from patriarchal rural India who are doing the extraordinary to change the narrative on gender equality and gender justice.[8][2]

The documentary features Jitender Chattar, an ordinary farmer who in a traditional marriage arranged by parents defies society by marrying Kusam, who was gang-raped by 8 men. The film follows Jitender's unshakeable resolve to secure justice for his wife.[9]

The film also follows Sunil Jaglan, a village chief, and father of two daughters, who are fighting for the inclusion of women in the male-dominated areas of local governance despite detractors filing false lawsuits against him.[10]

Also featured in the documentary is Baljit Singh, the Chief of the largest and most influential rural clan in India who is daring to challenge, the age-old tradition of male dominance, at the cost of his own authority and popularity.[11][12][13]

United Nations Partnership

The film was unveiled in February 2019 at Royal Opera House (Mumbai) by United Nations Under-Secretary-General Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and is now showcased as part of United Nations's global HeForShe movement.[1]

Prior to the premiere of the film, Son Rise was featured in the Hindustan Times 360 degrees campaign series "Let's Talk About It".[12][9][10]

Production

The documentary was shot in Haryana over a period of 2 years. The film team succeeded in getting men from the male-dominated panchayats (village councils) to speak up on gender justice and at the same time question men of the most patriarchal state on gender rights. In the process, Vibha Bakshi and her team identified and followed the legal, societal, and emotional battles of Kusam, a gang rape survivor, and her husband in their fight for justice.[14]

Release

Impact

In April 2019, all Consul Generals of the World in Mumbai jointly hosted the special screening of Son Rise at the National Museum of Indian Cinema, Mumbai.[15][16] Subsequently, for the International Day of the Girl Child, in October 2019.[17] the Diplomatic Corps in Delhi - comprising Ambassadors and High Commissioners of 15 Missions - screened Son Rise and pledged their support for gender equality.[18] The screening was held at the historic Siri Fort in New Delhi and opened by the Chairperson of The National Commission for Women in India, Rekha Sharma, and UN Women Head, Nishtha Satyam.[19][20]

The teaser of Son Rise was unveiled at the Spikes Asia Awards, Singapore, in September 2019, followed by a keynote address by Bakshi, director and producer of Son Rise at the IPG Women leadership conference. The conference was hosted by Micheal Roth, Chairman of IPG - the world's largest organizations of advertising and marketing services.[21]

In September 2019, Son Rise was screened for students of 100 colleges in Mumbai[22] followed by workshops conducted by the National Service Scheme (NSS) of Mumbai University.[23]

Son Rise kicked off the inaugural Bloomberg Equality Summit in Mumbai, the first in Asia, in October 2019. The screening was followed by the activation of the UN's HeForShe movement in India.[24][25]

NASSCOM, India’s chamber of commerce for the Tech Industry, along with 75 Tech leaders, jointly screened Son Rise in October 2019.[26]

As part of UN's global16 days of Activism,[27] in November 2019, the leadership of Haryana Police organized screenings of Son Rise across the force to gender sensitize the police.[28]

In January 2020, Son Rise had a special screening at the Women in Design 2020 International Conference where over 500 architects and design professionals, from across five continents, came together in Mumbai, India.[29] [30] YPO, the Global Leadership Community of Chief Executives, screened Son Rise in January 2020 to its group of YPO members followed by a panel discussion on making men equal partners for a gender-equal world.[31]

For International Women's Day, a special screening of Son Rise was organised for the Punjab Police to initiate a Public-Police partnership for women safety. This was organised by Consulate of Canada-Chandigarh, GNDU and Majha House. Dr Sukhchain Singh Gill, Commissioner of Police Amritsar and Shivdular Singh Dhillon, District Commissioner, Amritsar addressed the audience.[32]

Awards and nominations
YearAwardCategoryWorkResultNotes(s)
201966th National Film AwardsBest Film Non-FeatureSon RiseWon[33][4]
Best Editing Non-FeatureWon[33]
2020MIFF AwardsBest Documentary FilmWon[34]

References
  1. Joshi, Namrata (25 April 2019). "Consulates to host screening of Son Rise". The Hindu.
  2. Jain, Vaishali (8 December 2019). "Teach Boys About Gender Equality at 15 Not 50, Says National Award Winning Director Vibha Bakshi". CNN-News18.
  3. Service, Tribune News (28 February 2020). "Son Rise: A few good men wage war against patriarchy in Haryana". The Tribune (Chandigarh).
  4. Mitra, Shilajit (11 August 2019). "Filmmaker Vibha Bakshi wins National Award for her documentary 'Son Rise'". The New Indian Express.
  5. "Documentary shows fight against gender violence in Haryana - Times of India". The Times of India. 21 November 2019.
  6. "A World of Gender Equality". 20 November 2019.
  7. "MIFF Awards 2020".
  8. Majumdar, Anushree (2 May 2019). "In Son Rise, award-winning filmmaker Vibha Bakshi captures the horrors of female foeticide in Haryana". The Indian Express.
  9. "'I vowed to punish my wife's rapists,' says husband of rape survivor". Hindustan Times. 14 January 2019.
  10. "'Why force women to give birth to boys?' asks Selfie with Daughter campaigner". Hindustan Times. 16 January 2019.
  11. Ghosh, Labonita (10 February 2019). "Heartland heroes". Mumbai Mirror.
  12. "'Women no longer need to wear the veil,' says Haryana khap leader". Hindustan Times. 15 January 2019.
  13. Basu, Dyuti (17 March 2019). "Vibha Bakshi's latest documentary Son Rise shows a new side of the women's rights movement". Daily News and Analysis.
  14. Rao, Anuragha (10 October 2019). "Her story is his story". Sakaal Times.
  15. "Film Club". Mumbai Mirror. 30 April 2019.
  16. "Mumbai consulates came together to support Vibha Bakshi's Son Rise". The New Indian Express. 5 May 2019.
  17. "Special screening of National Award-winning film 'Son Rise' in Delhi". Business Standard. 10 October 2019.
  18. Vashisht, Radhika (20 October 2019). "PressReader.com - Your favorite newspapers and magazines". PressReader.
  19. "National Award winning film 'SON RISE' was screened to full house of influencers and change makers". MTI News. 13 October 2019.
  20. "Special screening of Son Rise in Delhi - Times of India". The Times of India. 21 January 2019.
  21. "Spikes Asia 2019: IPG Hosts Women Leadership Breakfast "The Silk Prologue" in Asia-Pacific". adobo Magazine. 8 October 2019.
  22. "Sons and shadows". The Week (Indian magazine).
  23. Bhandary, Shreya (30 September 2019). "Mumbai colleges, NSS, NGO come together for a gender neutral society". Hindustan Times.
  24. "Bloomberg Convenes Asia's Inaugural Bloomberg Equality Summit in Mumbai". TelevisionPost. 10 October 2019.
  25. "Bloomberg Business of Equality Mumbai". Bloomberg Live. 15 October 2019.
  26. "IT experts join hands for gender equality". Sakaal Times. 7 October 2019.
  27. "Men are 'heroes' in this gender rights documentary based in Haryana". Hindustan Times. 24 November 2018.
  28. "Delhi, Haryana Police flags off '16 Days of Activism' against gender-based violence". 28 November 2019.
  29. McGuigan, Cathleen (4 February 2020). "Respecting the Past to Protect the Future". Architectural Record.
  30. "Son Rise: A few good men wage war against patriarchy in Haryana". The Tribune (Chandigarh).
  31. Chatterjee, Mamlu (24 March 2020). "YPO Times Issue 39 March 2020". Issuu.
  32. "Son Rise: A few good men wage war against patriarchy in Haryana". The Tribune (Chandigarh).
  33. "National Awards Winners 2018: Complete list of winners of National Awards 2018". Times of India.
  34. "MIFF Awards 2020 | Mumbai International Film Festival". Miff.
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