In this highly personal and visually evocative testimonial, critically acclaimed South Asian filmmaker Nandini Sikand poignantly presents her sister, Chandana’s triumphal recovery from the emotional and physical scars of breast cancer. Lyrically incorporating poetry, experimental video and Super-8 montage, this moving piece looks at the myth of Amazonian women – warriors who were said to have cut off their right breast to become better archers – and compares their legendary battles to the war being waged against breast cancer. Chandana Sikand’s poetry describes her fight with the disease, exploring the geography of her body which is compared to the scarred landscape of the urban environment. Traversing the pulsating and dizzying streets, the city and body become one to highlight women’s lives as triumphant urban warriors. Moving and inspiring, this short experimental video is a tribute to all women who have struggled with breast cancer.
Highlights: Currently in distribution with Women Make Movies. Awarded Second prize in experimental section at Immaginaria: 11th International Lesbian Film Festival in Bologna, Italy, 2003. Awarded New York State Council on the Arts grant, 2002.
Official Selection & Screenings:
Bryn Mawr Film Festival, 2002
Artwallah, Los Angeles, 2002
4th Belo Horizonte International TIM Short Film Festival, Brazil, 2002
SAJA Non-Fiction Film Festival, 2002
25th Asian American Film Festival, NYC 2002
Georgetown Independent Film Festival, 2002
The Substation, Singapore, October 2002
The Millennium, NYC 2002
Pioneer Theatre, NYC 2002
Bilbao International Festival of Documentary and Short Films in Bilbao, Spain, 2002
Northern Arizona University 2002,
The Metropolitan Medical Anthropology Association, CUNY Graduate Center, 2002
Reellife: Women, Film, Conversation at College of Santa Fe, NM, 2002
Women & Film Festival at Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, CT, 2002
Cinema Paradise Film Festival in Honolulu, Hawaii, 2002
Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference, Minneapolis, MN, 2003
Women of Color Film Festival, New Orleans, 2003
Zanzibar International Film Festival, 2003
Museum of Modern Art, 2003
For distribution click here.