On the occasion of International Women’s Rights Day 2020
marking OPEN ASIA/Armanshahr’s 24th anniversary

40Braids Women’s Film Caravan  kicks-off its journey from Paris
7 March 2020

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OPEN ASIA will celebrate the symbolic departure of its “40Braids Women’s Film Caravan” from Paris and simultaneously Herat and will present its action for its next destinations on its Silk Road, on the occasion of the International Women’s Rights Day 2020. 

40Braids is a travelling forum. In each of its destinations it creates a festival celebrating films by and about women; holds debates and conferences advocating for women’s rights, runs workshops and brings together artists in order to weave an intercultural dialogue to support women’s universal agency. 

40Braids aims to strengthen women’s resilience in the face of inequalities, violence, war, militarism, populism, extremism and climate change through transnational North-South and South-South dialogue. 40Braids gives a central place to women’s stories about their country’s history and current realities and challenges gender stereotypes, in order to shape collective memory and build a common future for humanity.

DISCOVER THE PROGRAM FOR PARIS
Paris | 7 March 2020 | 10:00-19:00

BULAC (Bibliothèque universitaire des langues et civilisations) 65 Rue des Grands Moulins, 75013 Paris

 

Morning session
Registration: 09:45 – 10:15

 10:15 Her Afghanistan

  • Screening of award winning animation: Parvana, Nora Twomey, 94 min, Canada – Irlande – Luxembourg , 2018, (FR subtitles)
    Parvana is an 11-year-old girl who lives under Taliban rule in Afghanistan in 2001. After the wrongful arrest of her father, Parvana cuts off her hair and dresses like a boy to support her family. Working alongside a friend, she soon discovers a new world of freedom and danger. Drawing strength from the fantastical stories she invents, Parvana embarks on an epic quest to find her father and reunite her family.

 

11:30 Call to Action 

40Braids marks the 25th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women & adoption of the Beijing Declaration & Platform for Action (Beijing+25); the 20th anniversary of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security and the 40th anniversary of CEDAW.  

  • Stand with Women Peace-builders Campaign launch. A comprehensive campaign to sustain and elevate the vital work of women peace-builders and ensure their recognition, protection and security. ICAN (WASL), Melinda Holmes (Program director ICAN) and WASL members from Columbia, Algeria, Mexico, Syria and Pakistan


12:00 Debate: Afghanistan’s Women, nearly two decades after the Taliban

Speakers Ms. Sahra Mani (Filmmaker), Ms. Zargha Yaftali (UN N-Peace awardee), Ms. Shukria Heydar (President of NEGAR), Mr. Zia Moballegh (Researcher). 

Moderator Ms. Guissou Jahangiri (Vice President FIDH | Executive Director OPEN ASIA). Q&A

 

13:30 Cultural pause and light lunch

  • Poems and accordion performance with the pianist and troubadour Yvan Navaï
  • Visit painting and poetry Exhibition, Audio-installation, book stands and campaign corners
  • Exchange with the 40Braids international organisers, speakers, artists, activists and publishers  

 

Afternoon session  

14:45 Of Women, Wars and Migrations

Screenings of award-winning films and round table

  • Tangle, Maliheh Gholamzadeh, 7 mins, Animation, Iran, 2019. A glimpse into the life of a girl during wartime.
  • Bitter Sea, Fateme Ahmadi, 15 mins, Fiction, England – Iran, 2017 (FR subtitles). A single immigrant mother who has to hide her five-year-old daughter from her boss and land-lord in order to keep her job and home in London.

 

15:15 Why 40Braids?

  • Presentation of 40Braids; an itinerant international film festival celebrating films by and about women, travelling own Silk Roads and weaving intercultural dialogue in support of women’s universal agency. Guissou Jahangiri (Vice President FIDH| Executive Director OPEN ASIA)

 

15:30 Round Table: Gender equality? Two steps forward, one step back

To mark International Women’s rights day

Speakers:  Dr. Isabelle Konuma (Professor & gender equality referent INALCO), Dr. Bahar Azadi (Post doc researcher), Dr. Neelam Raina (Global Challenges Research Fund, UK Research and Innovation), Ms. Souhayr Belhassen (Honorary President of FIDH and member of 40Braids Patrons Committee)

Moderator: Dr. Azadeh Kian (Professor of Sociology, Director of the Center for Teaching, Documentation and Research on Feminist Studies – CEDREF). Followed by Q&A with the Public

 

17:00-18:30 Screening of award-winning documentary

  • Tiny Souls, Dina Naser, 86 mins, Documentary, Jordan – Palestine – Qatar,  2019 (FR subtitles). Marwa is nine years old, she flees Syria with her family and ends up in Jordan. They believe they will only stay a few months in the refugee camp, but that quickly turns into years.

 

All-day Cultural side events They make the Earth Go Round

    • Inauguration of painting exhibition: They Make the Earth Go Round in the presence of the artist Patrick Navaï
    • Her voice Audio installation in presence of Hoda Siahtiri (performer and art researcher)
    • Poems and accordion performance with the pianist and troubadour Yvan Navaï
    • Women celebrate Peace; exhibition of peace poems from OPEN ASIA’s SIMORGH International Peace Prize
    • The FIDH and The International Registry of World Citizens corner
    • Stand with Women Peacebuilders Campaign corner (ICAN, WASL)
    • The Publishers stand (Cahier du CEDREF, Editions Carnets-Livres, INALCO) 
    • Launch of 40Braids Contest for best Postcard
    • OPEN ASIA’s 7th edition of the International Peace Prize SIMORGH supports 40Braids by an international call for contribution to artists and photographers.  

19:00 end of programme

An OPEN ASIA France programme,  in collaboration with Armanshahr Foundation and SIMORGH International Peace Prize, supportedFIDH (International Federation for Human Rights), Docmaniacs Collective, CEDREF (Centre for Teaching, documentation, and research on feminist Studies),   Six Space, RebelUp!, Alternative ASEAN-Burma, Cinema Is Incomplete, UniR (Universités et Réfugié.e.s), Éditions Carnets-Livres, Armanshahr Publishing, The International Registry of World Citizens, The Nordic Center for Conflict Transformation, Art Cantara, Atelier des Artistes en Exil, ICAN (International Civil Society Action Network, WASL (Women’s Alliance for Security Leadership), CERMOM (Centre de recherches Moyen Orient et Méditerranée INALCO), Mission égalité femmes-hommes de l’INALCO (l’Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales), BULAC (Bibliothèque Universitaire des Langues Orientales).

Practical information

FREE ENTRY

WHEN: Saturday 7th March 2020
TIME: 10:00 – 19:00
WHERE: BULAC auditorium: 65 Rue des Grands Moulins, 75013 Paris

Public transport: Bibliothèque François-Mitterrand stations on Metro line 14 or RER C 

Bus numbers 27, 62, 64, 89, 132, 325, N 131, Tramway T3 (Avenue de France stop)

Snacks and drinks can be bought at BULAC cafeteria till 17:00

CONTACT: TEL. 0662153297, 0778689087 | MAIL  40braidsfilmcaravan@gmail.com  MORE information: www.40braids.org