Lights, Camera and Action for Gender Equality!

(Hon) Dr. Vibha Bakshi is a multi-National Award winning film director and producer known for her documentary films that are knocking down patriarchy the world over. She is the recipient of four National Film Awards, awarded by the President of India, the highest recognition in Indian cinema. Vibha was recently conferred the Honorary Doctorate from her alma mater Boston University for successfully activating global movements for change through the power of her films. She received this honour alongside civil rights icon John Lewis and scientist Dr. Anthony Fauci. Recent honourees to receive the Doctorate also included Steven Spielberg. Vibha's latest National Award winning film ‘SON RISE’ has been selected by the United Nations global HeForShe movement to be shown across 71 priority countries to change the narrative on gender inequality and injustice globally. Her previous groundbreaking National Award winning documentary 'Daughters of Mother India' holds the distinction of being THE MOST AWARDED SOCIAL CAMPAIGN IN THE WORLD – Global Creative Index 2017. Vibha is also co-producer and co-director with Oscar winning filmmaker Maryann DeLeo. Their films have aired on US networks.

Rahul Bose Called the ‘Indian art house icon’, by TIME magazine, Rahul Bose won the Filmfare Award in 2021 for Best Supporting Actor for ‘Bullbul’. His international awards include: Best Actor, Singapore Film Festival, 2000, and Runner Up - John Schlesinger Award for Best Debut Director, 2002. Other awards include : Indian Youth Icon of the Year - Social Justice, Green Globe award for Climate Change, Lt. Governor’s Commendation Award for Services to Andamans & Nicobar, Hakim Khan Sur award for National Integration, GQ’s Man of the Year - Social Justice. In 2017, Rahul’s second directorial venture, ‘Poorna’, won awards in Melbourne and Dublin. Rahul has lectured on leadership, gender justice and cinema at Harvard, Yale, Oxford, Cambridge and MIT, amongst others.Indian rugby's most famous face, Rahul represented India, playing 17 internationals (1998 - 2009). He is on the board of Rugby India. Rahul has founded two NGOs: The Foundation, dedicated to the equalisation development through education and HEAL, working to prevent child sexual abuse.

Miriam Chandy Menacherry is an award-winning Keralite documentary filmmaker and producer based in Mumbai, India. She has her own production house, Filament Pictures established in 2005, that produces socially relevant feature documentary films. She has been the recipient of national and international awards for her documentaries. She is currently working on a feature documentary about survivors of child sex trafficking fighting for justice titled `From the Shadows'. Her film Lyari Notes is the rare Indo-Pakistan co production on music and resistance that premiered at IDFA amsterdam where it was nominated for the alliance of women Film Journalists- EDA Award, the youth jury award at Sheffield and was the opening film at the Artists Cinema Package, Kochi Biennale. Her documentary, Rat Race (2011) was the winner of the Mipdoc Co-Production Challenge at Cannes (France). Miriam has also won the Asian Television Awards for Best Social Documentary (2007) and is one of 18 filmmakers selected for the Global Media Makers Program by film Independent and the US State Department. She is also working on an arts research project supported by the India Foundation for the Arts about the Women in Cinema collective in Kerala.

Udita Jhunjhunwala is an entertainment and lifestyle writer, film critic and author with over 20 years of journalistic experience. Formerly Entertainment Editor of Mid Day and Hindustan Times newspapers, her critiques, interviews and feature articles now appear in leading publications including Vogue, Screen International, Mint, Scroll, Firstpost, The Quint and AFP. A member of the Film Critics Guild, Udita was a contributing author to Women Indian Film (Zubaan books) and Bollywood’s Top 20 Stars (Penguin). She was also the film festival curator for the 2017 Kala Ghoda Arts Festival and the 10th Jagran Film Festival.