HerStory Advisors/ Selection Commitee:

here it is! the line up of amazing women, experts of women stories in their own ways to guide HerStory with the selection of stories and also hopefully, sharing their skills in the workshops with us. So don't be shy now, tell us your story, you know we'll treat it with love and care.



Bernice Chauly is a writer, poet and photographer and graduated with a B.Ed in English Literature and TESL from the University of Winnipeg, Canada. Her work with refugees, sex workers, AIDS, indigenous peoples and masters of folk traditions has been documented in award-winning works that span photography, plays, monologues, documentaries and short films. A seasoned performer for the stage and screen, she is also a key organiser of literary/storytelling events in KL. She has worked as a journalist, editor, travel/food writer and has authored two coffee-table books and an international travel guide to KL. She has also published two collections of poetry and a collection of short stories. She is currently writing a memoir on her Chinese-Punjabi family, part of her PhD in Creative Writing and English Literature at University Malaya. She is passionate about telling stories and is concerned with issues of marginalization, human rights and identity. She currently lectures in literature at a leading private university's School of Business. Her work can be seen on bernicechauly.wordpress.com

Mislina Mustaffa has been shedding tears, sweat and blood re-presenting all sorts of women characters with different history and socio-economic background in her 16 years of performing on stages and screens, which among them includes (films) Karaoke, Talentime, Mukhsin, Anak Halal, Bernafas Dalam Lumpur, Kurus, Bukak Api, (theatres) looking back in Anger, Till Death Do us Part, Off Centre and Waiting For Godot. Therefore, she found out that the body alone is not enough to define her as a woman. a woman is not a completed reality, but rather a becoming, and it is in her becoming that her possibilities should be defined, not to reduce her to what she has been or to what she is today, in raising the question of her capabilities. This nature of transcendent action means, no one is able to close the book till the time comes for it to close by itself.

Angela M. Kuga Thas holds a Bachelor in Economics. She first got involved in the development sector in late 1990. 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 (with IWRAW Asia Pacific) and in the area of women’s sexual and reproductive health (with ARROW), as well as in the provision of microcredit to poor women (with APDC). Angela’s current interests lie in the areas of gender and information and communication technology (ICT), gender and sexuality, social entrepreneurship, and young people’s, particularly young women’s, empowerment. With a group of like-minded women and men, she founded Knowledge and Rights with Young people through Safer Spaces (KRYSS) in December 2002.

Lina Tan founded Red Communications Sdn Bhd, in August 1999. Lina has created a variety of television programs, winning a few awards along the way. Some of the awards include winning the “Best Infotainment program” at the Asian TV Awards 2002 for 3R (Respect, Relax, Respond) – a tv program targeted at empowering young women, which garnered huge popularity spanning over 14 seasons. In 2004 Lina formed a subsidiary company called Red Films which produces and distributes independent movies. In 2005 Lina produced a mainstream film Gol & Gincu which was rumored to be the cause of a dramatic increase of girls taking up indoor football or futsal. It was screened in Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei and International Film Festivals in Bangkok, Tokyo, Amsterdam and Busan, Korea. It won most popular film voted by the audience in the 19th Malaysian Film Festival. The movie has spinned off a successful TV series of the same title and a Philippines version. Other films include “KAMI” which has won 2 local awards in 2009 and recent release “Pisau Cukur” (Gold diggers) which is a box-office hit.

Pernyataan Media: Projek Filem “Ceritaku, Seorang Perempuan.”

Projek Filem “Ceritaku, Seorang Perempuan.” baru-baru ini telah dilancarkan oleh sekumpulan penulis feminis, pendidik, dan pembikin filem yang tertarik untuk memberi ruang kepada perempuan Malaysia untuk berkumpul dan belajar bagaimana untuk berkongsi cerita mereka dengan orang lain menggunakan media penyiaran. Kumpulan ini berusaha untuk mengumpul cerita-cerita tentang cinta, seks, dan keinginan perempuan Malaysia, dengan memberi penekanan pada kepelbagaian dan pengalaman peribadi cinta mereka dalam konteks Malaysia yang lebih jelas.

Kumpulan ini yang memulakan projek ini berdasarkan beberapa pemerhatian: pertama, kecenderungan global terkini di mana mengumpulkan sejarah lisan tentang pelbagai subjek; kedua, penjajaran antara statistik dan laporan berita di Malaysia tentang kehidupan seks dan kecenderungan seksual dan rasa kurangnya naratif peribadi pada subjek dalam penguasaan awam dan ketiga, kurangnya perempuan menceritakan kisah mereka sendiri. Menurut jurucakap kumpulan dan pembikin filem Mien Lor, "Apabila anda memerhatikan media, anda melihat sangat sering lelaki membicarakan dan memberi nasihat tentang masalah seksualiti perempuan. Mengapa tidak suara kami-sebagai perempuan Malaysia-diperdengarkan? Menceritakan sebuah cerita adalah cara yang bagus untuk mengambil kembali suara-suara tersebut, ruangan-ruangan ini. Di samping itu, ini merupakan subjek yang menarik, bukan? "

Dua puluh daripada keseluruhan filem yang diterima akan dipilih untuk dijadikan filem-filem pendek yang kemudian akan ditayangkan di festival filem mini di seluruh negeri.

Maklumat lanjut boleh diperolehi di laman web Projek Filem “Ceritaku, Seorang Perempuan.” di http://herstoryfilmsproject.blogspot.com/. Perempuan Malaysia yang ingin mengajukan soalan lanjut atau kirimkan kisah-kisah mereka boleh melakukannya dengan menghantar email ke herstory@kryss.org atau telefon 012-6969455. Tarikh tutup penghantaran cerita adalah 31 Januari 2010.

'Women In Love' reviewed

The screening was reviewed candidly by Smita Sharma, we almost lost this brain to America. We welcome you home! Thanks for the review! Photos, albeit a bit blurry and artistic, :) courtesy of Abby Latif, terima kasih!



‘It’s Not About Anything, It’s About Everything’ by Crystal Woo and Sidney Tan

Funky graphics and a pretty original, if bizarre, storyline. The protagonist agonises about choosing between two lovers. She shares a history with one, full of good memories, but perhaps he is a thing of the past? Lover No. 2 is younger, fitter, good looking; perhaps a better choice for now and with an eye to future pleasure? The climax of this film was at the point where our protagonist has to choose between a lolly that will take her to the past and a pill that will take her to the future. She chooses the lolly. It's hard understand why someone would choose an already-experienced past over a wholly new future. She might have done so in a fit of nostalgia, granted. But perhaps our protagonist has a deeper appreciation for the fact that it is only with reference to our past that we make decisions presently. Or perhaps she is incapable of the heartlessness required to dump her old lover for the younger one. (Interesting how so many men—especially middle-aged ones—are perfectly capable of such heartlessness. Perhaps our protagonist needs a greater sense of entitlement to her own pleasure?) Whatever the reason, her choice of the past is the more human decision. I am no fan of stories where women mull over lovers like it's the biggest problem one could possibly have (why not spend the time trying to solve our climate crisis instead?), but I'm glad her decision was not based purely on cost-benefit analysis either.


‘I'll Trust this January’ by Virginia Kennedy

Focusing entirely on shot, setting, and star-power (the beautiful cast included Craig Fong of Spinning Gasing fame), this film falls short in terms of storyline. A married woman decides to take revenge on her adulterous husband by going on a trip with him to find a man to fuck. Such a plot deserves more in-depth treatment. The audience cannot be expected to empathise with a character that we cannot understand, and by goodness, this woman makes little sense. Why would she go on a trip with the husband, allow him to help direct her selection of random-male-to-fuck, and expect that the planned sexual encounter would do anything to make her feel better? The notion that she is out for revenge is too simplistic. The film left me with many questions; I only wish the multiple dimensions of its characters were better teased-out so that I could see those questions as worth answering.


'Sub Rosa' by Nadiah Hamzah

Well-executed although highly unoriginal treatment of the classic subject of cross-cultural relationships. The film could have been more interesting had it been longer, to allow for greater character development and material that would make the result less textbookish.


‘She’ By Idora Alhabshi

Bernice Chauly was wonderful here. What an emotive face! The focus on pure, raw emotionality was powerful and felt realistic. I liked that the audience seemed to observe rather than feel with the protagonist, although perhaps those who have gone through a harrowing divorce might identify with her.


‘Bare Hands’ by Nadira Ilana

Had the feel of a home-movie, the kind you make in a couple hours on a rainy day for the family to watch after dinner. The image of bare hands seemed confused: are we talking about love in spite of physical appearances or rather in spite of the capability, or lack thereof, of expressing love and giving pleasure? Unfortunately, the poetry was lost in the pretension. The clip felt repetitive and too long by half, although it was only two-odd minutes: a sure sign that substance was entirely lacking.


‘Kow Loon Story’ by Juliane Block

A solemn, sincere attempt at capturing a woman's sense of desolation and melancholia living in a city that seems to exclude her, to have no space or desire for her. The protagonist takes to planting origami shapes around the city in an attempt to express her individuality. Sadly, by the time someone picks the shapes and searches for the individual behind them, it is too late for her. The profound depression (which she cannot actually bring herself to voice) that led her to such creative expression also led to her suicide. Individuality is precarious and cannot sustain itself without support and recognition. And these she cannot find in the bland, impersonal city that held but could not house her. A poetic film that manages to articulate sentiments in silence.


‘2 Boys, 2 Girls and A Beat Up Car’ by Mien.ly

A refreshing departure from indie short films that focus on highly conceptual images at the expense of telling a good story. We go on an enjoyable ride with two young women on their way to meet their boyfriends. The women are a professional lawyer and fearless activist respectively—strong, independent women who do not suffer fools but who are not without a mischievous, good-humoured side. The boyfriends themselves are middle-of-the-road, 20-something yuppies. They are fairly one-dimensional, but that is probably a necessary editorial cut to keep the film more a comedy and less a tragic love complex.

It is not entirely by chance that we see the two women hit it off and the two men share so much affinity for one another. Gender has a role to play in this story after all. The particular upbringing of each character—affected in large part by whether the character is recognised as male or as female—sets her or him up to respond to the world in different ways. The women typify a certain generation of young Malaysian females: ambitious professionals, committed social activists, politically savvy, and determined to live lives increasingly on their own terms. It is unsurprising that they should connect as they do. It is lovely to see that such a connection can now more imaginably and more visibly take the form of a sexual relationship. We have come a long way.

But the comedy is not without cautionary notes. Homophobia is alive and well, even among young professionals who may travel in more progressive circles. Arbitrary detention is still used to silence whistleblowers and political opposition. All is not well in our beat-up country, and we must wish those who attempt to live here the best of luck.

Press Release

Press Release: Herstory Films Project

The Herstory Films Project was recently launched by a collective of feminist writers, educators, and filmmakers who are keen on creating spaces for Malaysian women to come together and learn how to share their stories with others using broadcast media. The group seeks to collect stories about love, sex, and desire from Malaysian women, with an emphasis on diversity and personal experiences of falling in—and out—of love in a distinctly Malaysian context.

The group initiated this project in response to several observations: first, the recent global trend of collecting oral histories on a variety of subjects; second, the juxtaposition between the preponderance of statistics and news reports on Malaysians' sex lives and sexual preferences and the sheer lack of personal narratives on the subject in the public domain; and third, the even greater lack of women telling their own stories of desire. According to group spokesperson and filmmaker Mien Lor, “When you pay attention to the media, you notice it is so often men talking about and giving purportedly expert advice on the subject of women's sexuality. Why aren't our voices—as women-identified Malaysians—being heard? Telling a story is a great way to reclaim these voices, these spaces, these larger narratives. Besides, it's an interesting subject, isn't it?”

Twenty of all received submissions will be selected to be made into short films that will then be screened in mini-film festivals around the country.

More details may be obtained at the Herstory Films Project website at http://herstoryfilmsproject.blogspot.com/. Malaysian women who would like to ask further questions or submit their stories may do so by emailing herstory@kryss.org or call 012-6969455. Deadline for submissions of stories is 31 January 2010.

Terms and Conditions for Your Story!

HerStory Film Project
INVITE YOU TO SEND IN YOUR STORY!
Terms and Conditions:

1. Content:
a) Stories from own experiences (as a woman or a person identified as a woman)
b) As a witness to someone else’s experience in relation to the writer, eg: how by witnessing that event affect the storyteller.

2. Format:
a) narrative story (no more than 5 pages, font size 12, Times New Roman, Double Spacing)
b) Screenplay format (no more than 10 pages, Courier, font size 12, double spacing)
c) Audio form (cassette, cd or wav if send online; to cater for women who can’t write, eg: stories from your grandmother)

3. Language: Malay or English (dialogue in stories can be of any language spoken in Malaysia as long as a translation is provided in Malay or English.

4. Please include details below with your stories:
a. Name: (please specify if you would like to use a pen name if the stories is to be made public but do send us your real name for working purposes.)
b. Pen Name: (if required)
c. Address:
d. Handphone:
e. Housephone:
f. Email:
g. Please give a brief background on yourself eg. where do you grow up, what do you do etc. (not more than 100 words).
h. Please state if the stories is from your own experience or did you bear witness to someone else’s, and why do you want to tell this story. (not more than 100 words).

5. Selection of the final 20 stories by the panel of juries is final. Information on the juries will be published here soon.

6. The selected storytellers are to workshop their stories with Herstory organizers and women filmmakers to be made into scripts and then into films together, if chosen.

7. The 20 stories will be workshop and from there, a selection of 5 stories (or more, depending on funding and resources) will be made into short films.

8. When finished, the films will be part of ‘Women In Love’ Film Fest that will be brought to all over Malaysia, made available online, in workshops as well as screened in any other avenue possible.

9. By sending us the stories, storytellers agreed to all the terms and conditions above.

10. Deadline for stories to be received is 5pm, 31 January 2010.

11. Stories to be send to/ contact info:

∑ Email: herstory@kryss.org
∑ Address:
Herstory Films Project
B-10-10,
USJ One Avenue,
Persiaran Mewah,
USJ 1, 47600
Subang Jaya,
Selangor.
∑ Website: herstoryfilmsproject.blogspot.com
∑ Phone: 012-6969455

Email your stories to...

herstory@kryss.org

Yesterday's screening and soft launch went well and we shall update some photos and info to this blog soon!! stay tune!!

Women In Love, The Playlist.

Filmmakers Anonymous and Central Market present
A Herstory Films Project

“Women In Love” FA 11
6pm at Arts for Grabs, Annexe Gallery
Saturday
26 September
FREE ENTRANCE!

Premiering Mien.ly’s film ‘2 Boys, 2 Girls and A Beat Up Car’
Also featuring films from Margaret Bong, Juliane Block, Nadira Ilana and more!

Desires. Sex. Love. What does it mean to women? These women filmmakers explore and showcase their stories for this special FA.

Herstory Films Project wishes to launch this space to share your love story, be it fairytale or forbidden, proudly or anonymously…as long as you identify as a women, we want to hear your story and possibly film it. Herstory wants to appreciate women’s sexuality the way they tell it.
http://herstoryfilmsproject.blogspot.com/

Due to the lack of women filmmakers in Malaysia in general and making films on desire more specifically, we whop up some previous FA films that fit this category. Still make for an interesting watch, so see you there!!

TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 60 MINUTES (discussion with filmmakers and Herstory organizers after)
All films have English subtitles. The screening is free. Central Market Annexe is located behind Central Market, near Pasar Seni Lrt station. For more info please contact Anonymous at 012-6969455.
ps. if you are an addict yourself, please feel free to bring dvd copy of your film to the screening and pass to Anonymous.

1. ‘It’s Not About Anything, It’s About Everything’ by Crystal Woo and Sidney Tan (2006/ 14 mins)
Synopsis:
A short film about Yee May who finds herself caught between two men and turns to unconventional means to solve her dilemma.

Directors’ Profiles:
Crystal Woo and Sidney Tan have collaborated on various projects that include short experimental video works, comics, and films. Sidney Tan draws & designs for a living, and Crystal Woo art directs and writes for a living. Together, they are fascinated by pictures in the head…ideas in space…and stories floating everywhere.

2. ‘I'll Trust this January’ by Virginia Kennedy (20min)
Synopsis:
In one night you can find out so much. About yourself. About your partner. You can find out they have cheated and you can find out what it is like to cheat. Sometimes cheating does mean nothing. And sometimes it doesn't. Hanna finds out the bitter truth about love, cheating and revenge in this intimate road movie about love.

Director’s Profile:
Virginia Kennedy, started writing scripts four years ago as an escape from advertising. After directing many award winning music video's and commercial's for over ten years, she decided to make films longer than 30 seconds. Originally a special effects animator and designer from Australia, she moved to Malaysia to get some tropical warmth. I'll Trust this January is her third narrative film.
Contact details: datadoll2004@yahoo.com


3. 'Sub Rosa' by Nadiah Hamzah (8.45mins/2009/color)
Synopsis:
Can true love prevail above all others? Ayesha, a Muslim African American struggles to balance her faith and liberal freedom. Kurt - yearning for a sense of belonging gets caught up in the bludgeoning Brooklyn hipster neo-subculture. A unexpected encounter brings the two together. Despite their worlds of differences, they not only find love, but also discover their selves.

Director's profile:
Nadiah Hamzah is based in New York, and is constantly inspired by the many sights and sounds of the city. She enjoys everything and anything by Catherine Breillat, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Takashi Miike, Michel Gondry and Yasmin Ahmad. Nadiah is also an avid cinematographer (DP reel can be seen at www.youtube.com/nadiahhamzah) but wishes she had more chances and money (or any money at all) to shoot on 35mm film. She is currently writing her first feature screenplay.

4. ‘She’ By Idora Alhabshi 13mins/color/2006
Synopsis:
An art house short film featuring the talents of Bernice Chauly. A story placing moments before bitter separation. It explores her intuitions, past experience and emotional turmoil before making her first step of courage.

Director’s Profile:
I’m based in kl but im in melbourne studying fine arts: media arts and photography in RMIT. eeedowrah@yahoo.com

5. ‘Bare Hands’ by Nadira Ilana (2mins30secs)
Synopsis:
Bare Hands is an original poem over stock images put together at the last minute for a classroom assignment (yes it happens to filmmakers too). It is the honest voice of a girl stricken by insecurity and the fear of loss, striking the question "does he love me for me or what I am?" Bare Hands is essentially about one's discovery of the meaning of love; how young love always struggles to measure up to its ideals and forces us to reckon with who we are and what we have to offer anyone or ourselves. How hard do we need to try to keep love alive? Should we come bearing gifts? Or with bare hands? That is... if you have hands.

Director’s profile:
Nadira Ilana is a passionate Sabahan and filmmaker. Born and bred in beautiful Kota Kinabalu, this former film student, now humble filmmaker/video artist's further education was spent in Brisbane, New Jersey and New York City. Keeping track of her can sometimes be a game of 'Where's Wally?' but she is currently temporarily residing in Brisbane where she is editing her next project. Favourite past times are also: photography, diary writing, karaoke, making collages and cursing at the Sabah electricity board for making her start impossible jigsaw puzzles (like ones of Klimt or with lots of sky and padang) she cannot finish but starts anyway because there's no internet or Astro during our perpetual power cuts. Visit http://feistgeist.wordpress.com to follow more of her readings and thinkings.

6. ‘Kow Loon Story’ by Juliane Block (5 mins/2009)
Synopsis:
A lonely woman leaves a trail of colorful origami in her struggle against the gray anonymity of a metropolis.

Bio:
Juliane started her filmmaking career in Germany, before she migrated in 2005 to Asia. Her directing credits include now several award winning shorts and a feature which have been screened at various festivals around the world. Juliane is a graduate of the University of Art Braunschweig, Germany and works as graphic artist when not busy making movies.

7. ‘2 Boys, 2 Girls and A Beat Up Car’ by Mien.ly (11 mins/color/2009)
Synopsis:
Heng and David swop stories about how they meet their girlfriends- Katherine and Beth. Katherine and Beth explored a beat up car instead. Oh, the many ways of falling in love! Featuring the amazing casts- Davina Goh, Anrie Too, Alfred Loh and Michael Chen. Info and photos at 2boys2girlsandabeatupcar.blogspot.com

Director’s Profile:
Through films, Mien.ly searches for love, for justice, for equality, for diversity, for humanity, for herself. As a profession, she is between a trainer and a filmmaker. She sees in a spectrum of lights and thinks that the world is more beautiful for the rainbow. She attempts to wield a blog at mienly.wordpress.com.

'Women In Love' Screening

Filmmakers Anonymous and Central Market present
A Herstory Films Project

“Women In Love” FA 11
6pm at Arts for Grabs, Annexe Gallery
Saturday
26 September
FREE ENTRANCE!

Premiering Mien.ly’s film ‘2 Boys, 2 Girls and A Beat Up Car’ (http://2boys2girlsandabeatupcar.blogspot.com)
Also featuring films from Margaret Bong, Juliane Block, Nadira Ilana and more!

Desires. Sex. Love. What does it mean to women? These women filmmakers explore and showcase their stories for this special FA.

Herstory Films Project wishes to launch this space to share your love story, be it fairytale or forbidden, proudly or anonymously…as long as you identify as a women, we want to hear your story and possibly film it. Herstory wants to appreciate women’s sexuality the way they tell it.
http://herstoryfilmsproject.blogspot.com/

(please copy the poster and words and spam it like you are in luv!)

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.