Wednesday, June 01, 2011

Kannama 'Shoots' Fear

For 20 girls in the Government Home in Kilpauk, the last one month has been inspirational like no other. While they had nurtured dreams of film making since they were little girls, they had to struggle against the harsh reality of their lives over the added gender struggles. Creativity took a back-burner in their daily fight for survival. But these children were determined to see their dreams succeed, despite all the disadvantages that were thrown at them.

And they did succeed. For this motley group of girls including children rescued from bonded labour, juvenile delinquents as well as orphans,street children, children from single parent households etc, opportunity came in the form of intervention of NalandaWay Foundation. A film making workshop conducted by NalandaWay's trainers in April 2011 saw great success in the outpouring of creativity it initiated.

Over the course of three days, the children were taught various skills such as story writing, direction, camera handling, art direction, music, acting and other aspects related to making movies by NalandaWay trainers. Such was the resourcefulness of the children that concepts that could stump even an adult were grasped so quickly and the children were ready to make their own movie at the end of the three days!

NalandaWay is now proud to present to you the fruit of these children's labour - "Kan Moodi Kan Thera", a short film entirely scripted, directed and created by these children using the skills acquired during the three day workshop. The story draws inspiration from their own lives - It is the story of fear that often afflicts our lives, and how to overcome it. This is just the first step in what we hope will be a life changing project. To view the short film, please click
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itFGW7Rz1l8

This would not have been possible without the generous contribution of donors to the Kannama Project. Inspired by the works of the legendary Tamil Poet Subramanya Bharathi, who highlighted the plight of girls and the importance of equal rights, The Kannama Project is an online fundraising campaign of the NalandaWay Foundation. To know more about the project, visit www.nalandaway.org/kannama


Sale of photographs in Amsterdam to support NalandaWay

Backpicture, Netherlands is organising an exhibition and auction of photographs and art items on June 5, 2011 between 16:00 - 20:00 hrs at Green Bay - Keizersgracht 253, Amsterdam. All proceeds would go to NalandaWay Foundation. For more information click http://backpicture.nl/