The curtains to the two day International Association of Women in Radio & Television (IAWRT) Travelling Film Festival at Kohima drew to a close on 3rd May 2025 at CEMA, Kohima. The event saw the successful screening of 14 internationally acclaimed movies and documentaries along with insightful panel discussions with the award winning documentary directors and producers Aparna Sanyal and Deepika Sharma.

One of the highlights of the Travelling Film Festival was the screening of the film Velvet Revolution. Velvet Revolution is a unique collaborative venture supported by IAWRT where the Executive Producer, Nupur Basu  worked with women directors from four countries who produced films in five countries namely Illang Illang Quijano – Philippines; Deepika Sharma – India; Pochi Tamba Nsoh and Sidonie Pongmoni – Cameroon and Eva Brownstein – USA/Bangladesh. VELVET REVOLUTION, is an exciting collaborative film where six women directors take their lens up-close to Women Making News. In a world riven with conflict and dictatorial regimes, where journalists are constantly under threat from both, state and non – state actors, what drives these women journalists to do their jobs? This documentary film brings you the testimonies of women journalists from Bangladesh, Cameroon, India, Philippines, Afghanistan, Syria, United Kingdom and Ajerbaijan on how they spoke truth to power.

Speaking at the valedictory programme of the two day Travelling Film Festival Aparna Sanyal the managing trustee of IAWRT India expressed her happiness and fulfillment for finally bringing the IAWRT Travelling Film Festival to Nagaland, which had been in the planning stage for nearly 5 years. She further thanked Film Association of Nagaland (FAN) and the partner organisers for successfully hosting the event and finally making their dream a reality. She said that it was such an inspiration to meet so many women filmmakers from the State and wished that they would all be a part of IAWRT India chapter.

  The International Association of Women in Radio & Television (IAWRT) was founded in 2005 under the leadership of Jai Chandiram and the India Chapter of IAWRT works to build and nurture a professional network of women professionals and academics in the media.

The members of IAWRT India chapter comprises of nearly 100 phenomenal women who have built stellar careers in the media and come from across India, making it the largest country chapter in the entire IAWRT network.   IAWRT (Chapter India)  work closely with organisations working on women’s issues, children, livelihoods, sustainability and more, bringing in their specialisation in filmmaking and the media to help them communicate better. The organisation also conceptualise filmmaking workshops for others in the non-profit space, helping younger people learn the basics of speaking with the camera.

As the definition of ‘media’ expands, IAWRT Chapter India remains committed to evolving with the landscape by embracing practitioners of all ages, and from emerging media platforms.

(Morotsung Longchar, IA)