Six stories of resistance move the UB at the presentation of the documentary 'Dones en lluita'
The Aula Magna of the Faculty of Economics and Business was full of people that wanted to listen to the main women of the documentary, women who have defied power to defend their rights in some of the most adverse contexts on the planet.
The Aula Magna of the Faculty of Economics and Business was full of people that wanted to listen to the main women of the documentary, women who have defied power to defend their rights in some of the most adverse contexts on the planet.
On Wednesday, 5 March, the University of Barcelona hosted the preview of Dones en lluita, 3Cat’s new documentary series directed by journalist Txell Feixas. The episodes, which premiere on 8 March on the 3Cat platform and on 9 March on TV3, give voice to six women from Afghanistan, Guatemala, Lebanon, El Salvador, Senegal and Catalonia who have faced the violation of their fundamental rights.
The session, hosted by journalist Manel Alías, began with a speech by the rector of the UB, Joan Guàrdia, who stressed the importance of presenting this project at a public university: “It is a way of highlighting collective interests over individual ones. We have a responsibility to work for how we will be valued in the future”. He also highlighted the impact the documentary had had on him: “It has moved me, as a member of the University, as a citizen and as a man. It pained me to see how someone is capable of risking his life in order to teach”.
For the president o
f 3Cat, Rosa Romà, Dones en lluita exemplifies the social function of public media: “This documentary conveys issues that need to be shared and raises awareness”. Along the same lines, Amparo Castellano, director of the non-fiction department at Mediapro, underlined the desire to give a voice to silenced groups: “This is a proud moment because it has been hard and complicated work, but very necessary”.
The Catalan Minister for the European Union and External Action, Jaume Duch, placed the documentary in the current context: “These women suffer the destruction of their lands and their lives and identities due to violence and gender bias. We need peace journalism, feminist journalism”.
A documentary that connects with the audience
After these speeches, Manel Alías gave way to Txell Feixas, with whom he spoke before the screening. The journalist explained the motivation behind the project: “The idea of the documentary arose from the passion for telling stories and doing so through these great women who, although they did not want to become the main characters, they didn’t or couldn’t give up”. She also insisted on the collective nature of their struggles: “These six stories are a micro-mosaic of essential struggles to be able to exercise their rights”.
This was followed by a teaser and the first episode of the series, which focuses on the story of Ana Rutilia, a Mayan Q’eqchi’ lawyer facing a hydroelectric complex that has devastated her community in Guatemala.
The impact of the film was evident in the room, with moments of shocked silence and heartfelt applause. This was followed by a panel discussion with the participation of three of the women in the documentary: Ana Rutilia, Samanta Fandos and Zuhal Sherzad, accompanied by Txell Feixas.
Ana Rutilia, touched, emphasized the link between women and the land: “The struggle is for the land, and we women are the ones who are most closely linked to the land. We are daughters of mother earth. The struggle for land in Guatemala is structural, and you stake your life on it”. Then, Samanta Fandos explained how a real estate scam led her to activism for the right to housing: “I realized that I was squatting after a vulture fund swindled me out of renting a flat. Since then, my struggle has been to prevent evictions and to make visible the huge housing problem we have in this country”. Finally, Zuhal Sherzad highlighted the importance of education as a tool of resistance in Afghanistan: “We decided to found underground schools because education is not a privilege, but a right”.
Txell Feixas closed the event with a message about the need for committed journalism: “I genuinely believe that women are better at telling stories because we do it with a 360º vision that often escapes men. We need a journalism that is humane, peaceful, inspiring, and that is why we need strong institutions to support it”.