The Female Nude

-NDFS Desk

The documentary The Female Nude has been shortlisted in the Asia Livelihood Documentary Film Festival 2009. It is going to be screened on 29th August 09 at Gulmohar Hall, Indian Habitat Centre. Produced by PSBT it has been jointly directed by reputed artist Hem Jyotika and very celebrated poet of our times Devi Prasad Mishra. The documentary has also been selected for screening at the annual Open Frame International Film Festival being jointly organized by INPUT, Max Muller Bhavan and, of course PSBT, in the month of September. The film has already been shown at Jamia Millia, New Delhi, Valmiki Rangshala, Lucknow, and telecast on DD1 to great critical acclaim. The film has been hailed as furthering the cause of gender discourse.

The film is about a model, who sits up for painters and sculptors. She lives in the slum of a metro where she lives with her four step sons, and her own daughter. She must have posed for so many artists but till date she has not been invited to any of the exhibitions. She feels alienated- she is a social margin in the power structure of art. And her wages are horribly low.
The film is also about attitudes – she is an easy target of male sexual fantasies. She has been abandoned by her husband; now she has to protect herself from the stalkers in her struggle to earn her livelihood. But not all has been lost - she has been immortalized in the paintings and sculptures, and, of course, in the documentary that has been made on her life.
It is the story of the struggle of a woman for livelihood, dignity and self respect. It is the story of a woman’s alienation in the cityscape; it is also the story of redemption and hope.