Early marriage, gender disparity and regressive social mindsets are common stumbling blocks that girls from poor backgrounds face around the world. ‘Girl Rising’, spotlights the stories of nine such girls who overcome their unforgiving circumstances by believing in their own power and potential. Join Senior Producer of Girl Rising, Martha Adams and Filmmaker and Writer of the Indian story in Girl Rising, Sooni Taraporevala in conversation with Former Head of the Social Communications Media Department, Sophia Polytechnic, Professor of Film Appreciation and Dancer, Jeroo Mulla (TBD), as they journey around the globe to witness the strength of the human spirit and demonstrate the power of education to change a girl, and the world.
Martha Adams is an award-winning storyteller who travels freely between the commercial realm of TV, the independent world of filmmaking and all things digital media. Originally brought on to produce the film at the center of the Girl Rising campaign, she is now the Chief Creative Officer and was featured in 2013 by Newsweek/Daily Beast as one of “125 Women of Impact.” Adams is a Senior Fellow at The University of Southern California’s Marshall Brittingham Social Enterprise Lab which recognizes leadership at the intersection of business and social impact, she serves as a Film Expert for the U.S. Department of State diplomacy program American Film Showcase, and in 2015 Novus awarded her “Humanitarian of the Year.”
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Sooni Taraporevala received a scholarship to attend Harvard University, where she studied English Literature, Film and Photography. At NYU she studied Film Theory and Criticism and received her MA in 1981. In 1986 she wrote her first screenplay, Salaam Bombay!, for director/producer Mira Nair. The film was nominated for an Oscar, won more than twenty-five awards worldwide. She wrote and directed her first feature film, Little Zizou, 2008 , which won the National Award from the Indian government for Best Film on Family Values, as well as ten international awards. She lives in Mumbai with her husband Dr. Firdaus Bativala, and their two children, Jahan and Iyanah.
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Jeroo Mulla was formerly the Head of the Social Communications Media Department, Sophia Polytechnic, Mumbai where she taught film appreciation and supervised student documentaries for over thirty years. Currently she teaches at Sophia Polytechnic, Xavier’s Institute of Communications, Mumbai, and Symbiosis Institute of Mass Communications, Pune. She was the first recipient of the Professor Satish Bahadur Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Contribution to Film Studies in South Asia at the Alpaviram Film Festival at the National Institute of Design, (N.I.D.)Ahmedabad.
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