The Nigah Media Collective
Nigah was created in 2003 when a group of Delhi-based people got together to articulate diverse understandings of politics and social activism, and of issues around gender and sexuality. It has since evolved into an attempt to use different forms of media to initiate discussions around issues of gender and sexuality, replacing the silence around these issues with progressive and inclusive debate.
We started with a succesful two-day film festival in Rmajas College, Delhi University, in Feb 2003. Since then we've been to St. Stephen's, Kirori Mal College, Delhi School of Social Work, Satyawati and Satyawati (Eve), JNU, and Sarai at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies. In each of these places, we've had successful and challenging screenings, followed by discussions on issues as diverse as feminism, sex work, body image, gender, homosexuality etc. The discussions after the films are always the crux of our effort. Experience has shown us that they are rather heartening and, we believe, worth the effort it takes to initiate them.
Our first steps into non-film media came about recently when we premiered our first theatre piece -- a play called Teen Kahaniyan -- at Larzish, India's first international film festival on sexuality and gender plurality, where it was incredibly well recieved. In a happy twist of fate, we then brought Larzish to Delhi in January 2004. Nigah's future plans include Friday's at Nigah -- a bi-weekly queer-friendly space, a new play that's in the works, some poetry and spoken word performances, and, of course, more films, more talk, and more discussion.
We are always looking for people who have an urge to reach out. It doesn't matter what your interest or experience is. As long as you want to be part of this process and events like this, you can be part of Nigah by contributing in various ways including organisational work, idea generation, performances etc.
We keep Nigah as an informal space for creativity, articulation, discussion, and introspection. The informal nature of this space has been helpful for us in giving shape to the many ideas that we had, have, and will have. The very openness of the Nigah has bee its strength, and we intend to keep it that way.
Join us! For more information, to be on the Nigah email list, or for any other reason except to send us forwards, email us at [email protected].
-- the Nigah team