MAMI Mumbai Film Festival focused on the #metoo debate sparked by accusations made a few weeks before the festival started. How the festival supported the discussions in a progressive manner helped to shape my own understanding - primarily the differences between UK, Hollywood and India related to studio system, conditioning of genders, cultural stigmas, work place stigmas etc. These workshops provided a clearer understanding of the legal processes and also how the work culture is shifting.
I had the opportunity to lead on two Q&A's which helped me to shape my questions differently for Indian audiences vs the way I may conduct them in the UK.
Furthermore, the trips enabled me to work out how to start shaping our programme for March 2019. I discovered many fantastic films made by female directors this year and we are now in discussion about how to support them. There may be a need to travel to Berlinale next year in February for additional programming.
