India's Daughter: Meryl Streep and Freida Pinto to attend US premiere of BBC documentary

The BBC documentary, depicting the aftermath of the brutal gang-rape and murder of the Delhi Braveheart in 2012, will have its US premier next week and will be attended by Oscar-winning actor Meryl Streep and Freida Pinto in a show of support for the film banned in India. The US premiere of the documentary, Storyville: India’s Daughter, on March 9 at the Baruch College of the City University of New York here will be presented by NGO Vital Voices Global Partnership and children’s development organisation Plan International. [caption id=“attachment_2141127” align=“alignleft” width=“380” class=" “]  Oscar winner actor Meryl Streep.[/caption] Streep and Pinto, who is Plan’s ‘Because I am a Girl’ global ambassador, will be joined by the documentary’s director Leslee Udwin at the screening. Udwin, a Plan ambassador, said the December 2012 rape and the protests that followed was an “Arab spring for gender equality.” “What impelled me to leave my husband and two children for two years while I made the film in India was not so much the horror of the rape as the inspiring and extraordinary eruption on the streets. A cry of ’enough is enough’. Unprecedented numbers of ordinary men and women, day after day, faced a ferocious government crackdown that included tear gas, baton charges and water cannon. They were protesting for my rights and the rights of all women. That gives me optimism. I can’t recall another country having done that in my lifetime,” Udwin said. Vital Voices’ vice-president of Human Rights Cindy Dyer implored everyone to watch the documentary and to “speak out and demand non-violence.” Dyer said the “provocative” documentary is a powerful platform for cultural change on a global scale and exposes the attitudes and beliefs that result in violence against women. “The entire world must heed this wise and brave call. It’s not just India – it’s everywhere. Each of us must summon the moral courage to expose the appalling attitudes and beliefs which lie at the core of horrific offences like the one that claimed the 23-year-old paramedical student’s life,” Dyer said. “We must have the fortitude and perseverance to extinguish this mindset from our communities and to support leaders who use their voice and agency to advocate for change. So I implore everyone to watch this documentary. Speak out. Demand non-violence,” Dyer said. The documentary, which was premiered in the UK on March 4, will be screened in countries across the globe – including Switzerland, Norway and Canada – to mark International Women’s Day. PTI