.the shape of water.

Yet another documentary trailer I'm sharing with you is one that I had the privilege of watching at the 10th annual "Race, Class, Gender and Sexuality Symposium" at Miami University in Oxford, Oh.   Directed by Kum Kum Bhavnani, The Shape of Water follows the lives of five different women in the nations of Israel, Senegal, India, and Brazil, tracing their activism and passion for change in their communities.

Bhavnani screened her documentary and discussed the film afterwards.  It took three years for her to raise money and complete the project and it she started considering the project to show her own students at the University of California, Santa Barbara, that though many active feminists from "developed" countries feel it is their job to go into "Third World" communities and help women, there are women within these communities who are passionate about their voices and are making changes on their own.

It was an exciting film to watch because you see women in Senegal openly talking about the problem of female genital mutilation (FGM) and its relation to both sexuality and health.  The generations of women are discussing their views, in one specific scene of the documentary, but when a man enters the room and gives his views that women should still be cut because of the African traditions, they unite as one voice telling him he's not part of the discussion; how could he possibly have an opinion when he is not a woman? In India, women are forming co-operative programs like SEVA to help them learn how to manage money and are even provided loans to start small businesses.  These were the two women communities that most interested me, but you can read more about the other women in the film here.

You can watch a trailer and clips from The Shape of Water here.