Gender, sexuality, sexual-reproductive rights and health are pertinent issues that affect all people and are central to their lives and experiences. No matter who, where and when, they meet you in the face, sometimes comfortably and sometimes not.

They span a range of issues and are closely associated to gender, identity, sexuality, state, health, development and human rights, with which they are in constant interaction. Sexual-reproductive rights concern fundamental aspects of people’s lives and are beyond the comprehension of purely medical and scientific discourses. More than anything else, they are the lived experiences of people and by virtue of that, of prime significance to them.

Sexual-reproductive rights are about identities, about being citizens, about life styles, about relationships, about violence. They shape and are in turn shaped by the specificities of each individual in close interaction with the social, political, cultural and economic systems of the country. Sexual and reproductive roles are part of the larger social roles defined for people and determine to a large extent, what kind of lives individuals lead and what choices they make. They are intimate and personal as well as visible, public and very political.

Besides how the nation has viewed sexual-reproductive rights over all these years, we need to talk about how we perceive our sexualities, our rights, our identities, our lives and deal with their complexities–sexual, social, psychological, emotional, health. How is the exercise of these rights, or the lack of it, reflected and embodied in our everyday lives, practices and behaviour?

The battle for sexual-reproductive rights is particularly intense as voices are being raised across the world by different peoples. At the same time, there are struggles of people in different pockets of the country, which have become beacons of hope in themselves and continued efforts at redeeming and reclaiming lives. It is time for these stories to be heard and applauded.

Sexual-reproductive rights are about people’s struggles to be what they are the way they want to, about resisting pressure, about facing violence, about being satisfied with who they are, about articulating relationships with the self and others and the larger collective whole.

We are awaiting proposals for films that will sensitively engage with experiences that are intrinsic to people’s lives and delve deeper into what they mean to them, as individuals, as ‘women’/‘men’ and as part of larger social groups. Films that will encourage a discourse and understanding on issues focusing on increasing awareness of people's sexuality, sexual and reproductive rights, health and the associated issues.

The films could explore the multiple themes and their politics either in their macro complexities or document personal negotiations with sexuality, identity, gender and violence, among other processes.

We hope that the films made under this project will be able to provoke, encourage, stimulate and speak to people to debate, engage, explore, remake, rebuild, dialogue and converse with and amongst themselves in order to contribute to an expanding discourse and the building of a truly democratic, just and egalitarian public culture.

The time is right to know more and delve deeper into these aspects of our lives and create a system wherein it is not uncomfortable to ask questions, questions that seem stupid, but must still be asked.

Proposals and Themes

Based on the background given above, we await proposals covering various issues involved and their nuances, with references and contexts from across the country.

Some possible themes are given below. These are only indicative themes and the filmmakers may evolve their own themes in a freewheeling manner to give effect to their thoughts and imaginations.