"Sita" reveals how uneducated, rural Nepalese girls are tricked and
lured into sexual slavery by focusing on one girl's story in an
intimate and personal way. Furthermore, the film is an adaptation of
a street play performed by rural Nepalese girls, and their
performance is also featured in the film. This innovative blend of
documentary and fiction both expands our notion of cinematic genre
and extends the broader social message that people can make a
difference in their communities.
Sita was shot entirely on-location in Nepal during the escalation of
the Maoist rebellion, within a year of King Gyanendra’s coup on
February 1, 2005. |
Sita, a Girl from Jambu was shot entirely on-location in Nepal in 2004, right before the Maoist situation escalated, ultimately resulting in the King Gyanendra’s dissolution of parliament and the rise of his dictatorship. Indeed, we had to halt production several times due to national strikes in response to Maoist threats. The Peace Corps volunteers who acted as interpreters on the production were later evacuated from Nepal, before their tour was up. Shortly thereafter, the monarchy barred all travel and communications between Nepal and the rest of the world. The situation in Nepal remains bleak, with the country divided between the monarchy, the Maoists and divided political leaders.
"I have always admired the French New Wave directors (Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Jean Renoir) and Italian neorealists (Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica, Luchino Visconti) and the mavericks of New American Cinema such as John Cassavetes; I therefore drew upon cinéma-vérité techniques as I developed and produced Sita; I worked with non-actors and shot in remote villages, in the very homes of some of the poorest people in the world. By doing so, I achieved a level of realism which reveals the context in which these people live and labor; it therefore paints a complete picture of the root causes of trafficking and sexual slavery -- poverty, vulnerability, and the disempowerment of women in Nepalese society.
Sita, a Girl from Jambu seeks to educate its audiences about the root causes of child exploitation in the global sex trade. It also educates the local population about the nature of HIV/AIDS, how it is caught and transmitted. There have been several recent documentaries on this issue (The Day my God Died, Born into Brothels), but few focus exclusively on Nepal; none to my knowledge offer an intimate view of life in Nepal and the cultural and economic factors that lead to the exploitation and prostitution of women and children. In my opinion, the fight against sexual slavery has to happen on four fronts: community-wide education and awareness-raising, empowerment of women and children, law enforcement, and rehabilitation. Most efforts focus on the latter two, the raiding of brothels and prosecution of criminals followed by the sheltering of liberated victims. Sexual trafficking will not stop, however, until the supply and demand factor is addressed. Sita stresses the importance of awareness and vigilance and how we can transform the landscape of sex trafficking until there is no one vulnerable enough to trick and sell into a life of slavery."
-director Kathleen Man
Kathleen Man is an award-winning independent filmmaker and a professor in the Film Studies Program at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Sita was funded through grants and the invaluable contributions of the volunteers, activists and field workers of General Welfare Pratisthan (Nepal) and the Boulder non-profit Free A Child, on whose board of directors she serves. |
Through an innovative and independent philosophy, Sita represents what people can achieve with the support of their community and the determination to be uncompromising in their artistic vision. The narrative structure of Sita is unconventional, combining fictional and documentary elements in a way that represents human trafficking for the sex trade from both within and outside the Nepalese culture. The inclusion of the Nepalese girls’ performance of their own play “Bichari Sita (Poor Sita)” as an anchor in the overall narrative structure gives us a unique look at how adolescent Nepalese girls perceive their position in this issue and how they subsequently take action; in an unprecedented show of empowerment, they are raising awareness in their local communities about trafficking, HIV/AIDS and the importance of being compassionate towards victims of the sex trade. The more conventional narrative element (the film within the film) brings us out of the street drama and into Sita’s personal world, detailing her intimate relationships with friends, family and her particular place in society. Sita’s devalued social position, dictated by her gender, breeds low self-esteem and renders Sita vulnerable to those who would exploit her in the sex trade. |
