Documentary by Maya Vishwakarma wins short film award
An Indian American woman from Fremont, Calif., was recently honored with an award for her socially-conscious documentary. Maya Vishwakarma was the recipient of the Best Social Entrepreneur Short Film award during the World Independent Film Festival for her documentary, “Swaraj Mumkin Hai.”Vishwakarma, from her poverty-stricken upbringing in India, was determined to make an impact. She is known as the “padwoman” of India as she has started a crusade to educate remote village adolescent girls and women folks about menstrual hygiene, it said.Additionally, she started a small unit for manufacturing and supplying sanitary pads at a throw-away price, the release said.Showcasing a case-study of a small village Baghuwar in Narsingpur district of Madhya Pradesh, the documentary was made by Vishwakarma in 2016 to inspire other villages of India to promote local self-governance. She said she had no idea that such a village existed in her own district and she visited it in 2014. This village fulfills Gandhiji`s dream of empowering villages for the development of the country. Her idea behind making the film was to inspire youth to take up such projects if they really wanted to make India a developed country.
