India
In October, I had the opportunity to visit my friend Maheshwari in Chennai, India, and help her tell a part of her story for She's the First. I met Mahesh in 2012 when she graduated high school; this film is a follow-up to Magho, a short documentary which follows her on her graduation day.
I can't express in words how much I look up to her (even though I'm almost 10 years older!), so we made you this video.
This weekend, I attended my first film festival as a filmmaker. Magho (Daughter) -- the short documentary for which I was co-director, director of cinematography and editor -- was shown at the Asheville Cinema Festival in the mountains of North Carolina.
Magho (Daughter) follows 18-year-old Maheshwari during her last week of high school leading up to her graduation. She comes from India's "untouchable" caste and is the first person in her family to study past the eighth grade. In the 11 minute film, Mahesh reflects on her life at home, her future and her relationship with her mother.
My co-director (and the film's producer) Christen Brandt and I came down from New York and arrived the night before our screening. When we opened the local paper, The Asheville Citizen-Times, we found our film listed as one of the 10 films to see at the festival!
We really enjoyed seeing other films in the festival, and our only regret is that we missed films we really wanted to see because our schedule was packed!
Our film played in the first block of short documentary films, and we were able to answer questions from the audience about our experience. They were curious about the production process, how we'd selected Maheshwari as our star, and where we want to take the film next.
It was wonderful to introduce our film to a totally new audience and to present girls' education as a solution to global poverty. Maheshwari's story shows the power of education to transform a family. I'm so happy that we were able to bring Mahesh's voice to Asheville and share her strength, perseverance and compassion with a larger audience.
Magho (Daughter), the short documentary I co-directed with Christen Brandt, has been selected for Asheville Cinema Festival in Asheville, NC! I'm super excited about this festival because it's in my home state!
Magho will be screened on Saturday, Nov. 9 at 12:30pm at the Masonic Lodge. Our film will be shown in a block with four other short documentaries, and Christen and I will participate in a Q&A after the screenings.
I'm so excited to bring Magho to North Carolina!
Magho (Daughter), the short film I made over the past year with Christen Brandt, is an official selection for the 2013 Silent River FilmFestival in Irvine, CA!
The film follows Maheshwari, an 18-year-old girl from India's "untouchable" caste, during her final week of high school. Maheshwari was the first person in her family to move beyond eighth grade and the first high school graduate. Magho documents her graduation day, reflecting back on her home life and her aspiration to become a cardiologist to lift her family out of poverty.
The festival is October 17- 20, so unfortunately Christen and I will miss it because we'll be visiting She's the First's partner organizations in East Africa. If you live in Southern California, swing by to see our film on the big screen!
I can't believe it's been almost a year since I traveled to India to shoot Magho (Daughter) at Shanti Bhavan Children's Project in Tamil Nadu, India! As this year's 12th-graders near graduation, I've been thinking a lot about them and their classmates. The children who attend Shanti Bhavan's residential school (a partner of She's the First) come from families in the dalit, or "untouchable," caste. Had they not been chosen at age four to attend the boarding school, their lives would have been very similar to those of their parents: little to no education, marrying early and having children, working difficult manual labor, and living in poverty. But their lives will be very different - Shanti Bhavan provides top quality education and all of their graduates have gone on to attend top colleges! Shanti Bhavan's goal is that these young people will use their education to change their families' lives and end the cycle of poverty. After getting to know these kids, I have no doubt they will accomplish whatever they choose!
Prathiba: Prathiba will be graduating this June and is headed to college after scoring first class on her ISCE exams! She is HILARIOUS, curious and mischievous. I love when she's reacting to something ridiculous - she has the best scowl! Prathiba showed us all around SB and made us feel at home, even though we were only there for a few weeks. I am so proud of her and excited to hear about her transition to college life!
Vincea: Vincea, also a 2013 grad, has an amazing voice and leads the school's choir. She loves Justin Bieber (as most of the kids do!) and sang a duet of "What Dreams are Made Of" during last year's graduation festivities. I can't wait to see the videos from this year's ceremony to see what she performs!
Preetha: Preetha is completely delightful! She has an amazing voice (she sang Adele’s “Someone Like You” and blew me away!) and is also an athlete and artist - those photos of my henna? She did it for me :) Preetha is going into 11th grade this year.
Jancy: Jancy was the first girl that She's the First sponsored as an organization, so I was so excited to finally meet her in person! She has since gone on to college and is doing really well. Jancy has the most amazing facial expressions - she cannot hide what she's thinking and her look of skepticism is hilarious! She's also an amazing artist - her eye for color and pattern is truly stellar. I hope she continues into fashion design, as has long been her dream -- she would create beautiful graphic prints for clothing!
Maheshwari: Maheshwari is the star of our short film, Magho (Daughter). We attended her graduation last year and spent time with her mother at home in her village. She has an amazing story and was so gracious to share it with us. Even though she was nervous, she was immediately comfortable giving us intimate answers to our questions. She's determined to become a cardiologist, or a biologist, and take her mother with her wherever she goes. She's currently studying biochemistry and genetics in college. I'm so proud of her and so honored to have been able to share her story.
Pushpa: Pushpa is gregarious and hilarious. She's a 2010 grad of SB who came back last year to help out at graduation. She's graduating college this year - and recently accepted a position at Goldman Sachs! One of the members of SB's first-ever graduating class, she and her classmates are setting an amazing precedent for the kids coming up after them; Shanti Bhavan is like a family and when the older students succeed, it has an incredible impact on the younger students.
This, of course, is just a handful of the incredible students I met last year -- they are all on my mind because graduation 2013 is upon us!
We're putting together DVDs and information packets for screenings of Magho this fall at our campus chapters and anywhere else that would like to share Maheshwari's amazing story. If you'd like to host a screening, please email me at kate@shesthefirst.org - 100% of the proceeds from your fundraiser will go to sponsor girls at Shanti Bhavan.
Eighteen-year-old Maheshwari comes from a family of quarry workers in rural India, none of whom completed schooling past the eighth grade. For the first four years of Maheshwari's life, it seemed she would follow a similar path: Waking at 5 a.m. to start the household chores, marrying young, bearing children, and bringing in money through odd jobs wherever she could. Instead, she was selected by the Shanti Bhavan Children's Project to attend their boarding school, a brush with fate that would change the trajectory of her entire life.
Read MoreAs She's the First's photographer, I've visited girls we sponsor in Guatemala and India. Meeting these young women has proven to me how powerful young people can be - both the students themselves, and the young Americans who creatively fund-raise to sponsor girls' education.
Read More
I'm in Southern India with Christen Brandt, Director of International Operations for She's the First! We're blogging on shesthefirst.org - click the headline to be redirected to our posts!
