11 minute read
An opportunity for short films to
COVID-19 and Domestic Violence
By: Mitu Gopalan
It is indeed disappointing to note that the Federal Government is now looking at setting up a new parliamentary enquiry into Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence, particularly given the inadequacies portrayed in the most recent Senate Enquiry into Domestic Violence.
The new enquiry is intended to cover immediate and long term measure to prevent violence against women and their children and focus on gender equality.
The enquiry has also been requested to look at the best practice and lessons which can be learned from the international experiences and requesting guidance in order to provide accountability for services and policy responses.
It is also intended to include the impact of COvid-19 public health requirements, for example, stay-at-home Orders, on the prevalence of Domestic Violence and provision of support services.
The social and economic impact of the pandemic is placing a significant number of vulnerable women and children at risk. Twelve women have been killed pursuant to Domestic Violence incidents since Covid-19 lockdown measures were put in place in March 2020.
It is disgrace that New South Wales faced a recent death relating to Ms Kamaljeet Sidhu. No such incidents should take place in the future.
Below are some tips on what you can do:
1. If you or someone you know is impacted by domestic violence, you can contact 1800RESPECT which is a 24-hours national sexual assault, family and domestic violence counselling line for all Australians sho are at risk or experiencing domestic violence. 2. Of course if you are in immediate danger, call 000 for Police or Ambulance. 3. In NSW, the Department of Communities and Justice can assist you with accommodation Due to current situation, there have also
been changes made to residential tenancy law as which in some cases allows you to terminate a lease without penalty if you are experiences family violence. Further information can be found here:- https:// www.tenants.org.au/factsheet-12-domesticviolence 4. Remember to always stay in touch with friends and family, even if you can only od so via text message or social media. 5. Should the situation escalate, and you need to contact he police, you may be able to obltain Apprehended Domestic Violence
Order which is a legal document that will protect you from family violence. 6. Your mental health and wellbeing are important during these times. A list of services and support contacts can be found here:- https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/mentalhealth/ sevices/Pages/support-contcat-lost.aspx
If you are concerned about your legal rights in relationship, whether it be issues relating to domestic violence, property, settlement or child custody, please do not hesitate to contact Freedmanm & Gopalan Solicitor on 02 8917 8700 for advice.
This is so that we do not lose another Kamaljeet from our community and society.
India Needs You, give INDIA Now
Make your donation at giveINDIA’s COVID-19 Response Fund for Vidhayak Sansad - Shramjeevi Sanghatana and help the marginalised communities in rural India survive the aftermath of the pandemic
The Australian actor and India Australia Goodwill Ambassador, Saroni Roy, has initiated a COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund for Vidhayak Sansad - Shramjeevi Sanghatana, an outfit working for tribal & marginalised communities’ welfare in rural India, identified as giveINDIA’s trusted non-profit partners who are working at the grass-roots level to help the indigenous and marginalised communities fight the atrocities of the Coronavirus pandemic.
With the nation-wide lockdown in India extended and the already crippling effect of Coronavirus pandemic on the Indian economy, the worst hit are the daily wage earners. The tribal and marginalised communities from the region of Thane, Shahpur, Jawhar, Mokhada, Bhiwandi, Kalyan, Murbad, Vasai, Vikramgad, Wada, Talasari, Dhanu, Palghar, Nashik, Raigad, Harsil, Peth, Surgana, Pen, Panvel, Sudhagad, Khalapur in the state of Maharashtra, India, work on daily wages and over 11000 families were not eligible for any assistance from the Government of India because they didn’t have ration cards (ration cards are an official document issued by state governments in India to households that are eligible to purchase subsidized food grain from the Public Distribution System under the National Food Security Act. They also serve as a common form of identification for many Indians). Vidhayak Sansad - Shramjeevi Sanghatana volunteers came to the rescue of these marginalized and vulnerable sections of the society risking their own lives, and prepared a list of these individuals and families in these villages without ration cards, including the labourers, police constables, sex workers, LGBTQ community, mathadi workers, migrant labourers who had now lost their jobs and were enroute to their home state by foot, and provided them with food, Ayurvedic medicines and helped them get to their village by arranging transport facilities.
“India is facing its worst public health crisis with the Covid-19 pandemic. Having lived in Mumbai, I was immediately drawn to take action to support Vidhayk Sansad - Shramjeevi Sanghatana in their mission to support rural India in this dreadful crisis. I have initiated this giveINDIA Fundraiser to directly support the vulnerable communities by providing a minimum wage,
with your donation and support, and help them survive the aftermath of this crisis. Your donation of a mere INR 650 (approx. $8.58 USD) will feed one poor family for a week.” appeals, Saroni Roy, Founder & CEO, SARONI ROY Foundation, to everyone worldwide to make a contribution to help India through the giveIndia COVID-19 Response Fund by Saroni Roy for Vidhayak Sansad Vivek Pandit & Vidyullata Pandit founded Vidhayak Sansad in 1979 and Shramajivi Sanghatana in 1982, for the socioeconomic development and welfare of the tribal and the marginalised communities including landless labourers, released bonded labourers, migrant labourers and farmers in rural Maharashtra.
“Our initiative ‘Manuskichi Thali’ has provided free meals to over 10,000 labourers, beggars, aged individuals in need last month. During this period, several of these poor and vulnerable families were deprived of any government assistance or food aid as they did not have a ration card. I immediately filed a Public Interest Litigation in the Mumbai High Court seeking urgent relief for these families. The court took serious note of this and ordered the State Government to immediately issue ration cards for over 5,702 families in Palghar district, 3,057 in Thane district, 319 in Raigad district and 2,058 in Nasik district.” said, Vivek Pandit, Founder, Vidhayak Sansad - Shramjeevi Sanghatana.
Thanks to all the generous donors so far from all parts of the globe, Vidhayak Sansad - Shramjeevi Sanghatana was able to support 43,894 families so far and has mobilized INR 25.8 million in the form of financial and food & essential commodity aid. This has set an example of how humanity has been unlocked in lockdown. And now we need each of you to continue your support for Vidhayak Sansad - Shramjeevi Sanghatana by making a donation and help the indigenous and marginalised communities of rural India survive the devastating aftermath of the pandemic.
India needs you, giveINDIA now: giveINDIA COVID-19 Response Fund by Saroni Roy for Vidhayak Sansad
COVID -19 and its impact on so many levels has not stopped one of our most admired and tireless business and community leader Barbara Ward JP said Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons.
Barbara was commended by The Hon Natalie Ward MLC for her incredible effects during a very challenging time.
I am pleased to announce our Northern Province Member Highlight this month is Mrs Barbara Ward!
During the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown, Barbara has been active in helping her community. She has assisted in providing fresh food packages, facilitating regular exercise programs and raising awareness of mental health resources through her work leading share.org. au. Through her work at Nutrition Australia NSW, she has delivered food hampers with fresh vegetables and fruit to families far and wide Gorain – are the names which have become synonymous with women empowerment in society They both run non-profit platforms.
Alpana Srivastava is a renowned entrepreneur and the founder of Sakhi Online (http://sakhi.online). across NSW. Barbara has personally purchased and delivered groceries together with her husband to vulnerable people all over Sydney, including Easter eggs and hot cross buns. All this while personally cooking meals for people in isolation, ringing members and setting up Zoom meetings so people remain Lupus Australia, Lifeline and the Rotary Club of Sydney. Thank you Barbara for all the phenomenal work you have done during this challenging time.
Women Empowerment
Alpana Srivastava and Tiya
connected. Barbara is also active in
Tiya Gorain is a model, eminent entrepreneur and the founder of Empowered Beauties With Brains (https://www.facebook.com/empoweredbeautieswithbrains/).
They aim to empower, help, motivate, support and uplift women by providing them with platforms to showcase their skills, products and talents; as well as to raise awareness about issues and help their voices to be heard.
They also started Women In Business (https://www.facebook.com/womenInBusinessWIB/) with Reetika Bhalla to help women entrepreneurs by providing networking, collaboration, referral and marketing opportunities to women owned businesses.
Alpana and Tiya organise various women empowerment events including fashion and wellness events.
They have been working hard for the betterment of the community and devote a large portion of their time and energy to champion women’s rights as well as other social causes.
Daljeet Bakshi
It’s a special time for Rotary in Australia and New Zealand as they celebrate the first 100 years of Service in 2021, with their four founding clubs: all begun in 1921, Melbourne, Sydney, Auckland and Wellington.
As the present scenario is of digitalization , new opportunities have emerged providing great platform to reach millions . Due to covid 19 impact , the online community presence has increased subsequently . Result of this, new doors have opened for hidden talent , film makers and short film creators .
UVAA Virtual Film Festival UVFF2020 would be the first of its kind film festival that is not only NonProfit but also for the benefit of short film makers in India and around the world. A festival, which will provide an opportunity for short films to be promoted and picked up by OTT channels across the globe.
The man behind this venture is Kamal Nathani who has spent his last 35 years in this Mumbai film Industry and has produced and directed many television serials, films, commercial ad films and other social films for various ministries and the corporate sector. He has some Award winning feature films to his credit. He himself has been involved in participating the national and international film festivals for last 30 years
UVFF’s aim is to create an opportunity for filmmakers to showcase their
UVAA Virtual Film Festival 2020
An opportunity for short films to go on OTT
work and reach out to the right jury members and audiences world over thereby getting one step closer to receiving recognition for their art. UVFF 2020 has wonderful opportunities for the business of film and visual arts.
All entries are promoted for free through their social media and website, with a featured page of each project. UVFF2020 offers seven different categories to the filmmakers to send their entries. These seven categories are; Best Film (Fiction), Best Film (Non Fiction), Best Film (Social), Best Film (Environment), Best Film (Covid-19), Best Film (Foreign Language) and Best Film (Music Video) UVFF2020 has decided to keep the duration of the films up to 40 min. This is again kept in mind from the OTT perspective.
All projects officially selected will receive the UVFF official laurel and the customized certificate of achievement according to their final status in the competition. As underlined above, some of them will be shown online. Some of the award winners will be requested for an on line interview or to provide the festival with a BTS or award acceptance video statement to be published in the UVFF website.
UVFF 2020 comprises of an esteemed list of jury members. Renowned experts including but not limited to social activists, musicians, theatre personalities, filmmakers, environmentalists and more, who will judge the entries. The highest rated entries are nominated for the awards of the respective categories and finally are choose the winners.
Non Profitable Venture / social cause UVFF 2020 will be a 100% nonprofitable entity. A tie up is done with AHRI an Assam based NGO who is working in the interiors of Assam with the various communities to fight the COVID19 cause. Any profits from the festival will proceed as donations towards helping the millions fight this fight against COIVD-19.
The idea is to select series of short films on various issues/themes and market them with the OTT platforms. UVFF2020 becomes the connection between the filmmakers and the contentbuyers thus helping the film Industry and creating one interesting hub forselected award winning content.
UVFF 2020 will be hosting and managing the entire festival on Film Freeway, the world’s #1 platform to discover, submit and engage with film festivals around the world.
