KIFF boost for documentary on girl empowerment

KOLKATA: Oscar-winning director Megan Mylan’s new short documentary ‘After My Garden Grows’ — shot in Cooch Behar last December and features local girl Monika Burman — will be released at the Kolkata International Film Festival on November 16.
The 10-minute film tells the story of Monika, a teenager from Matalhat village who grows vegetables in a tiny roof garden with the hope of feeding her family, paying her school fees and delaying her marriage.
“I was lucky to be raised as a prized daughter who could do anything. I want that for every girl. It takes education, not forcing girls to marry, but mainly it takes all of us having a big bold conversation about how girls are valued in the world today,” said the New York-based documentary filmmaker.
Mylan landed in Kolkata a year ago after learning about the state government’s Sabla scheme through which teenage girls in Cooch Behar were being empowered through land literacy.
“We explain to them the importance of land ownership and its productive use. Though 65% agricultural labourers in rural Bengal are women, a meager 8-9% own land. That is because when girls get married, parents feel that having spent a significant sum on the wedding, the daughters will not lay claim on the land. Thus land remains a male-dominated resource. We are trying to change that,” said Pinaki Halder, state director of Landesa, an NGO.
The director hopes the screening of the film at KIFF and elsewhere will propel the conversations forward on how each Indian can contribute to improving the future of its girls through time, expertise, influence and funding.