‘Getting There’: with a new rigor of empowering women

‘Getting There’: with a new rigor of empowering women 

‘Getting There’ team at Shamim’s place shooting her story

Women empowerment is a responsibility that belongs to the society as a whole. We are responsible to protect each and every member of the society and respect their struggle. To begin this journey of women empowerment the first step would be to spread awareness and give a place to the stories of women who have successfully stood for themselves.

Mumbai Smiles, apart from working with women through the SEED project, also encourages visitors, collaborators and other partners to give a voice to the underprivileged communities through their work. One such initiative was taken by collaborating with a team of young and vibrant film makers from Spain. They are working on a documentary named ‘Getting There’ that encourages people to follow their dreams, overcoming fears and going after their passions. They are travelling across various Asian countries like India, Nepal, and Thailand to give a voice to the stories of such struggling women who have made a place for themselves in the society. Elisabeth Navarro, the Field Producer describes the movie as “This film is not only about Anna´s (Main Actor) trip. It is about people finding each other along the way, about their lives, their culture, their fears and their dreams. It is about inequality and lack of opportunity, but above it all, it is about people´s struggle to change their situation.” They will be working with organizations fighting for the human rights in countries where the equality is still unappreciated. Mumbai Smiles welcomed their initiative and collaborated with them for shooting a film based on the true story of one of their SEED beneficiaries, Shamim Shaikh. The team interacted with Shamim for a week and recorded her story of how she established herself as an entrepreneur despite the difficult social situation that prevailed around her. Her will power, support from selected friends and her determination to rise above the shackles helped her to reach where she is today. ‘Getting there’ is about giving voice to these stories and helping in the creation of many more of them.

Jun Trenco, Director of the documentary shares her experience and the roots of the movie “I wrote this project from my own experience. Six years ago, I left Barcelona and went to live abroad. Leaving everything behind it is indeed scary. It is hard to start from the scratch in a new country on your own without speaking properly a language and without knowing their traditions, you get lost. I got lost. Starts aren’t easy, any challenge is, wouldn’t make any sense if it would be.” Her expertise and vision together would shape the story and challenges of these women in a comprehensive way, for the society to understand and accept.

Mumbai Smiles appreciates the intense efforts that the team is taking to make this social cause find a space in the fast moving media of the 21^st century. Their dedication and hard work was thoroughly evident in their work. We wish you all the luck and success with the project and hope to collaborate with you for any future projects that aim at alleviating the hardships of the underprivileged communities.

To know more about their work and movie click here

To support their project click here