Making Textbooks Feminist
Opia Films is pleased to announce our contribution to the important film “Making Textbooks Feminist” by providing Hindi subtitles. Our commitment to advancing gender equality and social justice has led us to be involved in this project, which was conceptualized by Dipta Bhog, directed by Sonali Ghosh for Jamun Films, and produced by Shabani Hassanwalia for The Third Eye. With the support of Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, South Asia, we were able to make this film accessible to a wider audience by adding Hindi subtitles. We hope that this work will initiate meaningful conversations on the topics of gender and social justice.
Opia Films’ team has created the Hindi subtitles for the movie “The Sex[Work] and the City”. We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to The Third Eye and Nirantar for allowing us to make a positive impact on society through this important work.
Sex [Work] and the City
A short video essay on how sex work shaped Kolkata, narrated by Dr. Paromita Chakraborty.
Kolkata, the city, has been shaped by its location, the wars that have been fought via its ports, the waves of migration from across the borders, and of course, the ubiquitous British presence and its shape shifting morality.
In this film, Prof Paromita Chakraborty of Jadavpur University explores how Kolkata was also inherently shaped by sex work; the way the city spread, the gender roles tightened, and the class dynamic solidified. The film looks at the current pandemic as an echo from the past, when the British passed the Contagious Diseases Act of the 1860s, which gave the state the power to regulate ‘common prostitutes’, in order to reduce the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases within the British army and navy.
Creating a visual experience of Kolkata being built through the eyes of the sex workers, the film combines archive material with impressionistic recreations, to tell the tale of one of the oldest cities through one of the oldest professions.
Produced by The Third Eye, Nirantar Trust