Baturu Cultural Festival
November 30 @ 2:00 pm - December 1 @ 7:00 pm
Background
The Baturu Cultural Festival marks the establishment of the Asia-Pacific Feminist Cultural Network in preparation for the 30th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women or Beijing+30. Launched on 25 November at FCCT, the festival takes place over 10 days across Bangkok, bringing artists and filmmakers to Thailand from across the region to speak about women’s rights and the importance of international cultural communication to promote public awareness via arts and culture of women’s rights in Asia-Pacific. As part of the festival, the organizers in collaboration with SEA Junction will hold three panel discussions, two on 30 November 2024 (2-4pm and 5-7pm) and another one on 1 December 2024 at SEA Junction. The panels will be an occasion for women artists from eight countries, namely Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam to share the ways they use art to express gender equity issues encountered in their countries. In particular, details of the three events are as follows:
Panel I: Women Echoes from the Fringe in Southeast Asia
30 November 30, 2.30-4.30 pm
Three female artists from Southeast will share their experience amplifying the voices and documenting the resilience of women from communities considered at the fringe of societies with their art. Issues addressed include discrimination and abuse experienced by sex workers, patriarchal norms governing the lives of ethnic minority women, and mental health stress affecting refugee women.
Speaker Bios:
Thanta Laovilawanyakul, Thailand
Thankta was involved with Empower Foundation and their social art performances in 1999-2008 before moving to Denmark and be a stage actress in Denmark in the fix+foxy project under the Danish government. When she returned to Thailand, with her friends at Empower they formed their own drama group, writing plays based on sex workers’ real experiences in their work.
Nhan Tran, Vietnam
Nhan Tran is a Vietnamese documentary photographer and filmmaker based between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Her works focuses on long-term stories, drawing attention to social issues, particularly on the conditions of ethnic women, and advocating for sustainable development. She is a member of Women Photograph and Up Next Photographers, which is a part of Diversify Photo, an Objectifs Documentary Award recipient, and a National Geographic Society grantee.
Khin Zar Li, Myanmar
Khin Zar Li was forced to flee from her country to Thailand after the military coup in February 2021 to escape violence and oppression. Now, she serves as a trainer of Joy House for women refugees where she teaches crafting techniques, basic art skills, and upcycling and repurposing. The training sessions help women participants heal their mental problems and give them job opportunities.
Panel II: South Asia Women Artists Against Gender Violence
30 November 2024, 5-7 pm
Three women artists from India and Sri Lanka talk about violence against women in their country and how they and other artists have responded and raised social awareness.
Speaker Bios:
Hansa Thapliyal, India
Hansa is a filmmaker, writer and teacher based in Bangalore. She trained as a filmmaker in the Film and Television Institute of India and has extensive experience in film production. She has made short films about domestic violence against women in India and will share about the anthropomorphic dolls she creates to stand in for the victims.
Ritika Banerjee, India
Ritika is working on a feature length documentary about child rights in India. Previously, she has worked as an illustrator for an award-winning digital intersectional feminist media organization, Feminism in India, and illustrated diverse topics helping in educating about the feminist sensibilities. Her talk will use illustrations to describe the difficulties Indian women encounter in pursuing equal rights.
Raeesah Samsudeen, Sri Lanka
Rae is a multidisciplinary designer specializing in human-centered design. In her role with Everystory Sri Lanka—a young feminists’ group committed to amplifying voices and sharing knowledge—Rae transforms complex research and advocacy into clear, engaging communications. Her work ensures that Everystory’s core messages resonate with a wide audience, fostering awareness, understanding, and meaningful connections. She will discuss the sexual violence suffered by women in Sri Lanka through pictures and stories.
Panel III: Zero Tolerance for Gender Violence in Southeast Asia
1 December 2024, 3-5 pm
Three women artists will discuss the way gender violence including sexual violence, domestic violence, and discrimination faced while working abroad affect women from Southeast Asia and how they use art to document and expose such realities to advocate zero tolerance in societies.
Speaker Bios:
Raksmey KONG, Cambodia
Kong Raksmey, joined the training of documentary film maker from Bophana Center in 2022. She is a public speaker, a journalist, a photographer, and a immediate Past President of PUC Toastmasters Club. She had wrote Internews’ Mekong Eyes and Earth journalism Network and was a photographer of NomadiX Art Tour. She will talk about sexual harassment experienced by female college students on campus in Cambodia.
Devina Sofiyanti, Indonesia
The filmmaker and lecturer based in Jakarta, Indonesia. Her work consistently addresses women’s issues within the genre film landscape. Her short film, Heirlooms, has been featured in both international and national genre and women’s film festivals. She will share about the short film she shot about domestic violence and its negative impacts.
Yoon Sung-A, South Korea
Yoon Sung-A is a French-Korean artist and filmmaker based in Brussels. She studied at Sorbonne Nouvelle (theater), Paris-Cergy Fine Arts school and INSAS (cinema) in Brussels. Her work is concerned with process and mise en scène. Playing both with the conventions of documentary practice and the codes of narrative cinema, she makes hybrid films that resist narrow categorization. Her talk focus on protection of women workers and the discrimination and abuse faced by Filipino migrant workers
For information/reservation for our events please email: info@seajunction.org, write to our social media channels or phone/wa: +66970024140
The event is free, but donations are welcome to support SEA Junction activities. SEA Junction is grateful for all of your support.
Organizers
Baturu Cultural Festival was founded in 2013. Formerly known as the China Women’s Film Festival, it is the only feminist cultural festival in China. It is committed to empowering women in the cultural industry and promoting feminist culture to become one of the mainstream cultures in society. It has won the Intercultural Achievement Award by the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
SEA Junction, established under the Thai non-profit organization Foundation for Southeast Asia Studies (ForSEA), aims to foster understanding and appreciation of Southeast Asia in all its socio-cultural dimensions, from arts and lifestyles to economy and development. Conveniently located at Room 407-8 of the Bangkok Arts and Culture Center or BACC (across MBK, BTS National Stadium), SEA Junction facilitates public access to knowledge resources and exchanges among students, practitioners and Southeast Asia lovers. More information at http://seajunction.org/
