SRFTI Sexual Harassment NEVER Ends

This is a letter i sent to the ministry of I&B, SRFTI (Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute) some time ago.  

Hello,

I am kunjila mascillamani and an alumnus. Kindly google me before asking me more questions about who i am, after 8 years of injustice from the part of SRFTI. I hope you are aware that the name on records of sexual harassment complainants cannot be made public in the country and even if it could, you do not have my permission to do so with me. I was one of the complainants in the cases mentioned in the subject line. I have copied the other two complainants as well. Recently, we got to know from a lawyer we appointed for ourselves through an NGO in Calcutta - because SRFTI students and administration and even some of the professors were violent and hostile towards us complainants - that the honourable court has given a ruling pointing out procedural errors from the part of SRFTI, and in favour of the professors who sexually harassed us. The lawyer informed us that the court has asked for our complaints to be looked into, once again by the current ICC of SRFTI. We would like to ask the following questions to all at SRFTI and the Ministry of I&B.

0. Why was there a procedural error from the part of SRFTI in a case of such importance? Why were the GC members, the then Chairperson Partha Ghosh (also copied in this mail) not aware of this? If they were aware, given how hostile SRFTI and Partha Ghosh himself were to us, what evidence exists to prove the procedural error was not deliberate? Evidence regarding Partha Ghosh's bias and hostile behaviour towards me have been documented and reported.

1. Why did the institute not inform us complainants of this important development?

2. Who argued the case? Who were the lawyers, and how were they appointed - for SRFTI?

3. What was the argument of the said lawyers against the professors?

4. Is the institute going to challenge the court order?

4.5. If yes, are the same lawyers going to fight the case? If no, why?

5. Who gets to decide who the lawyers who fight for SRFTI would be, in court cases?

6. I got to know from my current admirer students in SRFTI that the current ICC is chaired by Oindrilla Hazra and that one Ms. Srijani Lahiri whom i know as Srijani Dey - surname change presumably after a wedlock - is a member of the ICC. Is this information correct? In that case, i would like to refresh the institute's memory on the history of both these individuals.

Srijani Dey, while being my batchmate had, along with other students like Modhura Palit, made malicious complains against me for calling out her HoD's sexual harassment and advances. I am adding a screenshot of one of the posts she made after ToI reported the matter. I have more where this came from. The complaints i made against Oindrilla Hazra might still be available in the SRFTI dusty archives - assuming nothing has been digitized, yet.

 

I have more videos on YouTube. Like this one. jaake suna dena apne behan ke laudi ko To refresh your memory, I also have images of how the ex- director, Debamitra Mitra and Syamal Sengupta shared the same address during the ICC enquiry. Wasn’t Partha Ghosh one of the two people who later appointed her as Director? 

7. What is the status of the inquiry that was done upon my complaint against Debamitra Mitra’s conflict of interest in our case? Is there a report? Where is it? Is SRFTI waiting for me to file an RTI in the midst of my busy schedule to get this report, if it exists? 

8. Would you have done this to ANY male student who passed out of your institute and is now a filmmaker with a film playing on SonyLiv, one whose film was part of Indian Panorama in IFFI and whose various SRFTI projects have won an obscene number of awards? 

I have more questions that i shall keep for another letter.

If my language is coming off as rude and angry, it might be because i am both. I expect you not to tone police me, like you always did when i was a student there. I expect you to answer my questions. I demand answers. Oh! and justice too.

To remind you of the good old days, i will also be making this letter public on my blog.

WCC Writes to the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy in Support of Director Kunjila Mascillamani

 To 

The Chairman, Secretary 

Kerala State Chalachitra Academy,

Dear Sir/Ma'am,

We are quite appalled by the unfortunate incident that took place at the Opening Event of the 3rd Women’s International Film Festival, Kozhikode.

 

Kunjila Mascillamani is an SRFTI alum and an independent filmmaker based out of Kozhikode, who has previously won an award at the IDSFFK. She has, as an Independent filmmaker, made short films against great odds.  Her last short film ASANGHADITAR,  was part of the anthology, Freedom Fight and was released in theatres. Her film is an uncompromising docu-fiction that portrays the terribly backward situations in which women in Kerala have to work.

 

We understand that this film was not included as part of your programme in the Women’s International Film Festival and that the filmmaker was not given an explanation for the same. While we understand that every organisation is within its rights to make their choices and to stand by those decisions – a public organisation like the Kerala Chalachitra Academy shouldn’t shy away from explaining to the people how they came by their decisions. 

 

However one views it, it is impossible to look away from the fact that a woman filmmaker was treated with utmost contempt and police violence on the premises of a Chalachitra Academy event meant for women filmmakers. This cannot have happened without the tacit support of the Academy. That is disappointing. We feel it is the Academy’s responsibility to have had a dialogue with the filmmaker instead of creating the kind of spectacle which we all saw. We hope you will understand the implications of such decisions and take some corrective measures immediately and engage the filmmaker in a dialogue or at the very least give her a reasonable explanation as to why her film was not included in the festival.

 

The Chalachitra Academy is mandated with the task of countering the gross commoditization of the film medium and to bring a rightful recognition of the contribution of cinema to the cultural enlightenment of society. Kunjila’s film does just that - brings enlightenment about the state of women workers in Kerala. As part of your mandate, it behoves you to engage in meaningful dialogue with all kinds of filmmakers – not just the powerful or the favoured. Kunjila deserves an explanation, not contemptuous dismissal.

Such festivals are conducted to encourage more women filmmakers. Any young woman watching the events of the last days, are not likely to be filled with confidence in the Academy. This is a bad consequence both for the Academy and for future Malayali women filmmakers. Hence we request you to live up to your mandate to respect and set forth equal opportunity to all filmmakers and to engage in meaningful dialogue with them. We would also like to recommend a more transparent approach to the selection of films - with a process that is open to the scrutiny of all.

WCC would like to place on record it's strong protest against this disrespectful treatment of women filmmakers.

MC

                                                                              

Women in Cinema Collective 

e q u a l   s p a c e      e q u a l   o p p o r t u n i t i e s

www.wccollective.org

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