Guest Post by Nora Armani
Awareness is the first step towards reclaiming our rights as women. So long as we are unaware that we are experiencing inequality, and so long as we accept the status quo as the norm, nothing will ever change.
While growing up in Egypt, I did not think I was discriminated against as a female. I did not think there was any gender disparity. I thought I was no different from the boys — not because we lived in a society where gender equality was the norm, but because where we lived the status quo was accepted without question. So long as there was no conflict or confrontation and everyone knew their place, there seemed to be no problem. Everything seemed normal.
When I first left Egypt and the comfort of my childhood home and society to go to the London School of Economics, something changed for me, because I realized, through exposure to the outside world, that not only had I not enjoyed unequivocal gender equality while growing up, but also that I had been quite far from it.
Five years ago, I founded SR Socially Relevant Film Festival New York (SRFF) as a reaction to the violent murder of my dear cousin, Vanya Exerjian, and my uncle Jack. As the 10th anniversary of that fateful day approached, when father and daughter left this world hand in hand, perpetrated by the ultimate act of violence by a man against a woman, I needed to channel my pain into action in an attempt to honor their memory with a meaningful legacy. What started as a protest against violence expanded to include all social issues as I realized they may be the root cause of violence. And more importantly, I had had enough of seeing film posters with guns on them.
SRFF grew to encompass more than just anti-violence. It became a showcase for gender equality, freedom of expression, human interest stories, and social causes. It became an alternative form of entertainment aimed to spotlight works that otherwise may not be seen in the commercial world. Works that deal exclusively with social issues. Works by women filmmakers.
After screening 207 films from 35 countries over the past four years, we now open our fifth anniversary edition today, March 16, with Cordula Kablitz-Post’s “Lou Andreas-Salomé: The Audacity to be Free.” It is about a woman who epitomizes liberation by becoming a psychoanalyst and a protégé of Freud. There are many other interesting films on our slate this year that are by and about women.
Our Spotlight Panel, the centerpiece of the festival, is with Apne Aap, an organization that Ashley Judd, Gloria Steinem, and Rosanna Arquette support headed by Dr. Ruchira Gupta, that battles trafficking and rescues young Indian girls from prostitution. Together with films from the UN Media Partnership on women, and an excerpt from Dr. Gupta’s “The Selling of Innocents,” we celebrate women in Hollywood, in film, and elsewhere, as we remit the Vanya Exerjian Award for Empowering Women and Girls, the staple of SRFF.
Last year something changed for women in Hollywood when a handful of brave actresses showed us that in order to change course, we first have to declare the need to change it. They showed us that our responsibility, as women, is to redefine the norms. We have now understood that, unless we speak up, nothing will change.
I only understood in retrospect how not speaking up had cost me dearly. When I was 17, after my dance class one evening, I told my father that my Moyseyev Balletmaster had offered to arrange for a full scholarship for me to study dance. He fiercely objected, closing the subject forever.
Many years later, reflecting on women, Hollywood, our profession, and a missed opportunity to study dance in Russia, I realize that I was far from experiencing any form of gender equality.
Egypt is not the world. It certainly is not the world I live in now. I have come a long way — not just geographically. The film industry, too, has come a long way. How far will this change extend, and how long will this ripple effect last, is yet to be seen.
Each one of us has a duty towards making change happen — each one of us has to use the resources available to her to preach change, to promote change, and to become the change.
For my part, I am happy to conclude that films made by women constitute exactly 50 percent of our slate at SRFF this year. This was not done on purpose, or in order to satisfy some sort of quota. The films were selected purely on merit and we realized, once the selection was completed, that exactly half the films selected were made by women filmmakers. Sadly, this picture is far from representing Hollywood norms.
But the tide of awareness has been unleashed, and it is rising to engulf many norms.
My dear cousin, Vanya, would have been so proud to see me help raise social awareness in my own limited way through socially relevant film content. The challenge now is to tame this bull once we hold it by the horns.
The 2018 SR Socially Relevant Film Festival New York will run through March 22. The lineup and more information can be found on the fest’s website.
Nora Armani is an actress, filmmaker, and the Founding Artistic Director of SRFF, now in its fifth year. She has an M.Sc. in Sociology from the London School of Economics. Visit Armani’s website to find out more about her work.
