Q: In rural India, these filmmakers brought attention to water issues and eventually this neighborhood got clean tap water as a result of the film. Do you think women documentary filmmakers are especially suited to making a societal impact like this?
A: Women in rural areas are often the water bearers, right? They are the ones who pour the water for their children to drink. If the water carries diseases like typhoid, they are the ones who nurse their children to health, whether or not there is water enough for bathing. It’s only natural, in my opinion, that women would be personally invested to push for a water tap that would allow them more time to work at other tasks important to their families’ and communities’ survival.
To me, coming from the First World with a kind of antiquated Florence Nightingale mentality, it was personally transformative for me to discover that SEWA (Self-Employed Women’s Association) had its own video unit, self-empowered to come up with viable solutions to help their communities in Western Gujarat, India. The most important thing I could do was to make sure that Women Behind the Camera validated the work of women who are taking up digital cameras as a political and social tool for the well-being of their families, their communities, and themselves.
Q: What were the biggest challenges in making Women Behind the Camera?
A: How to keep going when we were continually running out of money. In between the wonderful, wonderful support of the Roy W. Dean Award, the Fledgling Fund, the Women in Film Finishing Fund, and my university, and the generous in-kind contributions and support from women all over the globe, were a lot of periods of financial struggle. It took six years of production to make this film plus over a year of post-production. By the end, my beat-up old Honda ‘95 was losing its third gear, “Little Miss Sunshine”-style. I had to remind myself that the project was much bigger than just me: its message of global interconnectedness carried with it the responsibility to find a way to finish the film, regardless of the juggling act between producing, directing, teaching a four-course load, and single motherhood.
Q: What’s your advice to women choosing film as a career?
A: If filmmaking is your passion, go for it! There’s a page on my Web site, Women Behind the Camera, that can help you get started.
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