I am Belmaya (12)
Sat 13 Nov 2021 - Thu 18 Nov 2021
Category
Other Information
12
Price
£8* Standard | £5* Student / Under 25s
Time
See Showtimes Below
Sat 13 Nov 2021 - Thu 18 Nov 2021
Other Information
12
Price
£8* Standard | £5* Student / Under 25s
Time
See Showtimes Below
Dir. Sue Carpenter, Belmaya Nepali
2021 | 81 mins | UK
English, Nepali
Dominated by her husband, her family and society, Belmaya is desperate for independence. But in much of Nepal, men rule and women obey. Here, in one of the poorest nations on earth, women are daughters, wives, mothers, dependents and, all too often, victims and slaves – but rarely individuals in their own right.
Born a Dalit (the lowest, ‘untouchable’ caste), orphaned at the age of nine, poorly educated, and trapped in an abusive marriage with a baby daughter, Belmaya, 21, has given up hope of finding happiness.
Rewind to 2006, when Belmaya, at 14, participated in a photo project at a girls’ home in Pokhara. Impassioned and inspired, she was keen to change her discriminatory world through photography. But that window closed when the home locked away her camera.
Now she gets a second chance, this time to train in documentary filmmaking. Picking up the camera once more, her old spark returns. Determined to create a better life for her young daughter, Belmaya gains the skills and confidence to forge a new path. But are her resentful husband and conservative community ready for this?
★★★ – ‘A stirring look at the painful reality faced by Dalit girls in contemporary Nepal, as well as Nepali’s stunning achievements’
THE GUARDIAN
Directed by a woman, written by a woman and starring a significant woman.
F-Rating is a new rating for films directed by women, written by women and/or with significant female characters on screen, in their own right. Find out more here >>