Features

June 10, 2009

Sari Soldiers Screening in Tinpiple, Nepal

Tinpiple, Nepal, early evening Saturday, May 30.

With motherly resolve, Devi Sunar lifted two young girls through the Tinpiple school window, giving them shelter from a torrential downpour.

Devi had performed this same act thousands of times over the years with many children, including her sons Ram and Ramjee, and her daughter, Maina. These two little girls felt safe in Devi's care.

Children in Tinpiple before the screening. Photo by Bruni Burres.

These girls, along with nearly 1,000 villagers from Tinpiple and neighboring villages, had gathered in the school courtyard to watch The Sari Soldiers, Julie Bridgham's stunning documentary about the efforts of six women to shape Nepal's future in the midst of an escalating civil war between Maoist insurgents and the Royal Nepalese Army. Many of those who gathered had suffered losses of their own during the armed conflict.

Five years earlier, despite the likelihood of repercussions, Devi publicly accused the Royal Nepal Army of torturing and murdering her niece Reena. Devi had witnessed the atrocity. Several days later, the Royal Nepalese Army retaliated by abducting 15-year-old Maina, Devi's only daughter. Devi and her family fled their village and sought refuge in Kathmandu.

Devi with filmmaker Julie Bridgham. Photo by Bruni Burres.

Her search for Maina and her fight for justice form the narrative spine of The Sari Soldiers. Devi's courage, her inexorable belief that justice must prevail, and her unconditional love for her daughter make for an emotionally overpowering experience. Her tenacity has made her daughter Maina's abduction the landmark case of disappearances in Nepal.

Luckily, the rain stopped just in time for ICTJ's local partners, the Dalit Youth Drama troupe, to perform a short play they had written about the disappeared. The audience responded viscerally, booing the perpetrators and cheering the victims.

When The Sari Soldiers began, the crowd was silent, completely captivated. For many, it was the first time they had seen themselves on the big screen.
When the end credits rolled, men, women and children clapped and cheered loudly, shouting for Julie and Devi. The post-screening comments were forceful: "We are Devi..." "When will those in power see this film?" "They must see this film!" "They must be held accountable!"

Spectators at the screening. Photo by Bruni Burres.

ICTJ's Pivot Pictures, in partnership with Julie Bridgham (Butter Lamp Films) and our local partner Media for Development, plan to screen The Sari Soldiers for Nepal's Constituent Assembly members, members of parliament, and District Assembly leaders. These targeted screenings comprise just one piece of a two-year, high impact outreach campaign for the film.

A banner advertising the screening in Tinpiple. Photo by Bruni Burres.

We will continue to host outdoor screenings in rural areas and harness the positive responses to the film to drive concrete action, particularly in defense of women's issues, the right to truth and ending impunity in Nepal. We believe that a strategic outreach and distribution campaign for The Sari Soldiers will allow us to make a concrete and lasting contribution to positive changes in Nepalese civil society.