Get your tickets here: https://in.explara.com/e/
CraYon Impact in tandem with Pra-Kar and The Red Door Presents, ‘Bully Proof’ – Screening, Dialogue and Spoken Word
Bully Proof is the first of its kind open space for dialogue and discussions on the issue of bullying. The event will start with a screening of the film ‘Bully’ aka ‘The Bully Project’ (2011) followed by a diverse panel of speakers. The discussion will be led by Reshma Valliappan, Navadeep Pannala and Shovona Karmakar, who through sharing their personal experiences will cover the spectrum of different perspectives to bullying that deal with – gender and sexuality, mental health, trauma and recovery. The evening will end with Ramneek Singh – a powerful spoken word poet and activist who will perform poetry to the topic of bullying.
Date: Friday, 13th May
Venue: House of Wow, Mumbai.
9PM: Film Screening – Bully AKA The Bully Project
10:30PM: Panel Discussion
11:30PM: Spoken Word
The film – Bully AKA The Bully Project
Filmmaker Lee Hirsch examines five cases of youths who endure vicious persecution at the hands of their peers. Ja’meye, 14, winds up in reform school after pulling a gun on the youths who tormented her for years. Cameras record the abuse suffered by 14-year-old Alex as he’s beaten and teased on the bus. Star athlete Kelby, 16, is ostracized and worse after she comes out as lesbian. Most tragic of all, two boys, one 17 and one 12, commit suicide to escape the torture.
Our Speakers:
1) Reshma Valliappan:
Reshma is an Artist/Mental Health Activist fighting for the right to be granted what for most others is a given – full legal capacity.
She works with the concept of ‘The Red Door’, first conceptualized by Mixed Media Productions, to create more awareness about issues of mental health in India.
She is also the Founder-Director of MindArcs, which aims at creating spaces for more user/survivors (of psychiatry) to come ‘out of the closet’ and speak about their experiences. However, the space is also open to others who might not have a label/diagnosis but just simply have had different experiences.
2) Navdeep Pannala:
Navadeep is Pygmachophobic, Unsettled, Spiritual, Feminist, Gay, TransGenderqueer, social activist, teacher, and wanderer. These are the few of many labels ze carries, both personal and political. Ze has been into community work and social activism from past six years. Currently ze is working with Anveshi Research Centre for Women’s Studies as a Short-term research fellow, working on discourse of LGBTQ in regional language.
Along with this ze also volunteers with Domestic Workers Union at Montfort Social Institute. Prior to this ze worked for considerable time in the area of Inter-religious faith. Ze is also a volunteer and governing body member at Pain Relief and Palliative Care Society, Hyderabad.
Ze has his first short story, “Untitled” published in a anthology of love stories called “Celebrating India Love without Borders” by Nivasini Publications. Ze frequently writes at gaylaxy.com and queer-ink.com.
3) Shovona Karmakar
Shovona Karmakar is a freelance commercial photographer based in Mumbai, India. With a keen eye for design and visual arts, she completed her Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from Kala Bhawan, Shantiniketan and a foundation in design from MIT Pune. She then pursued her passion for visual arts through photography. A self-taught photographer and visual artist, she has dabbled in various genres including food, products, portraits, editorials, commercial fashion, advertising and animal photography.
Popular for her self-portraits and cinemagraphs, she has been featured on Desi Creative, Your Story, Wacom and Get Inspired Magazine. You’ll also find fashion, beauty and lifestyle portraits shot by her on Jossbox.com.
As a visual artist, Shovona is open to experiments with art and focuses on intermixing technology with visual aesthetics through her work. Her other passion is travelling and fortunately for her, photography always takes her on various assignments. She is always open to new opportunities and takes on any challenge with ease.
4) Ramneek Singh (Spoken Word Poet)
A spoken word poet, Ramneek Singh is known for his activist poetry, which melds free verse and Hindustani.
Singh, who grew up in Jammu and Kashmir, speaks fluent English but insists on performing in Hindustani. His ability to create compelling imagery and convey emotion to his audience will always lie with his mother tongue. “Someone who lives in my village, he doesn’t know English. And if I go and use these words, ‘conflict’ and ‘oppression’, he won’t know them,” he says.
He’ll perform two pieces on bullying.
About CraYon Impact:
At CraYon Impact we are passionate about ‘telling stories of those making a difference, with a difference’. In its essence, CraYon works across different mediums (film, visual, music,etc) to support social enterprises and change-makers in showcasing the passion and impact that their work is having keeping quality and outreach to target audiences in mind.
We stand for helping to spread awareness on different causes in a dignified manner, dropping the need to pose as a charity with a begging bowl. The more traditional approaches to advocacy such as conducting lecture sessions or workshops that merely cite the problems and what the ‘ideal’ mindset should be, can only go so far. When are we really convinced about something? When we experience it ourselves.We believe that attitude and behavior change in larger society can be tackled in much more innovative and creative ways that push people to think for themselves and question their stereotypes and prejudices.
We help change makers tell their STORY and MOBILIZE their community across various PLATFORMS in innovative and creative ways using the power of COLLABORATION.
Visit: www.getyourcrayon.org
Like us on FB: facebook.com/crayonimpact
Follow us on Twitter: @crayon_impact
About PRA-KAR:
PRA-KAR, stands for change in form. And thus, EVOLUTION-
Evolution of mind-sets,
Evolution of thought,
Evolution of education, and
Evolution of business.
From the promotion of ideas and initiatives that bring about social change, to making available best-in-class services to entrepreneurs, SMEs and freelancers that help them save and grow, we work hard to identify and address the pain-points that afflict the layman.
We want to help drive change about things that impact us socio-culturally, politically and economically, and create a platform for collaboration, social entrepreneurship and peer learning.
PRA-KAR especially aims to promote this ethos among the growing entrepreneurial community so that the current and future generations of change-makers are sensitized about the issues at hand and incentivized to find solutions.
At PRA-KAR, we care. We welcome minds that share our vision and want to evolve their PRA-KAR.
Like Us on: https://www.facebook.com/
Follow us on Twitter: @PrakarOfficial
About The Red Door:
The Red Door seeks to change the meaning of madness or mental illness that we and the world around have been conditioned to believe. Every individual ‘mad’ or ‘un-mad’ have their own personality traits which they can attribute towards similar experiences of madness. Unfortunately, everything we do today seems to follow conventional makeup and structure. This hinders our individualistic growth because each of us have our own unique styles, makeup, thoughts, feelings or experiences which need to be cultivated and cared for. This includes our mental health and well being. It only is more so for those having a mental illness but is not limited to this group of people. By supporting each other as individuals and as community or a society, the braided threads of madness, creativity and disability can invoke…inspire…and awaken hope, transformation and empowerment in every single person.
Each person at The Red Door can identify with living in a crazy world; and that certain breakdowns should not be classified as symptoms of illness. Respecting diversity and individuality, we embrace all walks of life irrespective if they support the use of psychiatric drugs or identify with diagnostic categories or neither of these but choose alternative methods.
We invite everyone and anyone who shares the similar vision to be a part of our mission.
Visit: https://
www.facebook.com/groups/
