Writing with Fire

To be a woman in India is to be vulnerable, and to be a female Dalit, the lowest caste in Indian hierarchical society, is perhaps the least tenable position of all. Imagine the sheer courage behind Khabar Lahariya ("Waves of News"), a hard-hitting all-women Dalit newspaper in Uttar Pradesh. In 2016, chief reporter Meera transitions her team from paper to digital. Whether they're the only woman in a room of police covering a rape case or staring down the umpteenth mansplainer at a mining protest, these reporters know they are changing perceptions of what women dare do while protecting democracy itself through journalism. But renegotiating power in Mother India is particularly difficult if you've never worked a smartphone or can't even afford the electricity needed to file a story. As national elections mount and their YouTube channel clicks over into the millions, Writing with Fire honours the unflappable women at the heart of a revolution. Myrocia Watamaniuk

Co-presented with Film Fatales

World Showcase program sponsored by

MEDIA COVERAGE

• NOW Magazine - "A celebration of shoe-leather journalism and indefatigable commitment"