What is HerStory Films Project?

HerStory understands the need for women to have safe spaces to express their sexualities and desires, spaces other than those propelled by capitalism, patriarchy and religious fundamentalism. Some of these safe spaces can be found in the creative world of arts and film is a very accessible form of art. It is easily portable, nowadays much more affordable and has proven to be one of the more feasible ways to sustain a longer-term awareness campaign. HerStory will unveil stories of women’s desires on film, by women filmmakers. Women filmmakers in Malaysia are very few, and even fewer portray stories of women’s desires. We would openly invite women to submit stories, including women filmmakers themselves. If authors are unable to create their own films based on their stories, a pool of women filmmakers will be identified to work with the authors of the final selection of stories to come up with an anthology of films. These films will screened during a film festival and roadshow around Malaysia, known as ‘Women In Love’, and for every screening, we will have talks or workshops on sexuality and also invite more stories.

Objectives of the project –
1. A diverse portrayal of women’s desires which would help expand the discourse and understanding around women's sexuality. We hope that by doing so, women’s sexuality would be understood more holistically instead of objectified or marked as the vanguard of morality.
2. Through the sharing of stories of women’s sexuality and by engaging in dialogue, we hope to create spaces where women would feel safer and more secure with their sexuality and start seeing it as something positive and beautiful other than the negative connotations society and the State tells them.
3. To increase opportunities and support that would encourage more women to engage in creative arts, whether writing or film by providing a safe and nurturing space.

Why is this project important?
In an increasingly conservative socio-political environment of Islamic fundamentalism in Malaysia, women’s bodies become the battlefield for the most fundamental of women’s rights, the right to control and make decisions over our own bodies as women. Who women have sex with, what women do in private spaces, what women wear, what women drink, what women eat, how women talk and walk, have become unduly legislated in the name of “moral policing” with many forms of injustices to women and a total disregard for women’s rights protected by the International Bill of Rights and the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women. In such an environment, it becomes more critical to expand opportunities and spaces for critical thinking, even if it is merely to encourage people, both young and old to question “Why?”. Women’s rights around the world are an important indicator of understanding global well-being (see http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=30116&Cr=women&Cr1=day), and to this end, even the World Bank finally recognized, that when women in a country are discriminated and persecuted, the whole nation suffers and poverty increases (see report launched on 8th March 2001, http://www.unwire.org/unwire/20010308/13382_story.asp).

Time frame of the project
26 Sept 2009 – Launch of Herstory Project, open calls for stories
Jan 2010 - Filmmakers and storytellers meet to workshop stories
Feb 2010 - Production of short films commence
May 2010 - 1st Anthology of Films completed. Premiere screening to launch the “Women in Love” film festival.
June to August 2010 – Film festival and workshops to be held in various places in Malaysia.

HerStory is brought to you by: (The list is non-definitive and might likely to expand)
Mien.ly, is a filmmaker and trainer by profession. Her latest documentary ‘Running’ on refugees in Malaysia, which was commissioned by Suaram, has been screened in Cairo, Australia and Jakarta this year. She has run trainings in human rights, gender and sexuality rights, non-racism and video making. She is also co-founder of Filmmaker Anonymous, an irregular screenings of indie short films in KL; partake in issue-based street actions with KataGender; volunteer with Freedom Film Fest, Women Candidacy Initiative and Kryss.

Angela M. Kuga Thas, is a Malaysian and an advocate for women’s empowerment and non-discrimination. Angela draws her knowledge and experience from her wider networking and previous work with women’s rights advocates on the CEDAW Convention, women’s sexual and reproductive health, and in the provision of microcredit to poor women. Angela’s current interests lie in the areas of gender and sexuality, gender and information and communication technology, social entrepreneurship, and young people’s, particularly young women’s, empowerment. With a group of like-minded women and men, Angela founded Knowledge and Rights with Young people through Safer Spaces (KRYSS) in December 2002.

KRYSS is an organization that works with young people on the issue of discrimination and rights through creative platforms. Since its establishment, KRYSS has focused on issues of discrimination based on sexuality, gender, ethnicity and religion. As an organization that believes in optimizing people’s skills and available but limited resources, KRYSS’ approach to all of its projects is to partner and work with groups or individuals who seek social change and justice and in making a difference. Past partnerships have included Amnesty International (Philippines), Reka Art Gallery (Malaysia) and local government units in the Philippines. KRYSS has also organised a queer film festival with the kind unofficial support of the President of Kelab Seni Filem Malaysia, in collaboration with non-formally established groups like Purple Lab, Soul Sisterz and Women-who-Love-Women. Special screenings of films by Desiree Lim, a Malaysian who now resides in Canada, with dialogues with audiences, were also conducted with Kelab Seni Filem Malaysia and Monash University. KRYSS takes pride in jointly taking risks and supporting the initiatives of both young women and men of diverse sexualities in bringing about change for non-discrimination and social justice.