Gender rights film Son Rise screened for Mumbai Consulates

In an unprecedented gathering, all consulates in Mumbai, through the Consular Corps, came together to host a special screening of Son Rise — a new gender rights documentary by National Award winning filmmaker Vibha Bakshi. The Screening was co-hosted by UN Women, the Films Division and Sonia Hays, wife of New Zealand Consul General and Vice-Dean of the Consular Corps, Ralph Hays.

Set in Haryana, the film depicts ordinary men shedding a light on gender inequality and striving to repair the skewed sex ratio in the state. These include a village sarpanch fighting for women to enter the male-dominated arena of local politics and a farmer who decides to marry a gang rape survivor and get her justice. 

Speaking to a packed house, Ralph Hays said, “The Consular Corps is proud to come together to pledge our support for the urgent and important need to change the narrative on gender inequality. We are proud of Vibha Bakshi for creating Son Rise, a powerful and positive gender rights film which makes men equal collaborators in the struggle.”
 
Nishtha Satyam, UN Women’s Deputy Country Representative for India, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka, shared, “Nothing gets to the heart the way cinema does. SON RISE is ‘magic’ since it brings out not only voices of discrimination but also of courage, of sheer strength.”

Vibha Bakshi, who made the National award-winning film, Daughters of Mother India, said, “A film cannot solve the problem, but it can certainly open a dialogue. SON RISE focuses on ordinary men, who have done the ‘extraordinary’ to change the narrative on inequality. The three men featured in this film are the torchbearers and the real heroes who have brought a change.  It’s time for men to become part of the struggle in establishing a gender equal society."