National Award-winning filmmaker Rima Das has been named the Toronto International Film Festival's Share Her Journey programme as an official ambassador. The Canadian festival launched the initiative in 2017 to increase the role of women in film, both in behind-the-scenes and in front of the camera. It is part of the festival's five-year campaign to reshape and change the opportunities for women in the film business.
Cameron Bailey, artistic director and co-head of TIFF, said in a statement, "TIFF is delighted to welcome Rima on board as an Ambassador for our Share Her Journey campaign. Her remarkable body of work and passion for championing equality makes her an excellent choice to help us support women in film and move the dial towards gender equity throughout the industry."
The filmmaker joins Mira Nair, Deepa Mehta, and Priyanka Chopra as other ambassadors from India. Other female ambassadors include writer-director Amma Asante, writer-director Molly McGlynn, and actor Ellen Wong.
“It's a huge honour to be a 'Share Her Journey' ambassador. Through this platform, I would like to bring together voices of people of all genders and collaborate to champion the cause of equality”, Das said in the press release.
Das made her directorial debut with Man with the Binoculars: Antardrishti (2016). Her last two films, Village Rockstars (2017) and Bulbul Can Sing (2018), have had their world premieres at the festival. Besides winning the National Award for Best Feature Film, the coming-of-age story Village Rockstars also India's entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards. It did not make the final nine cut and therefore did not move ahead to the nomination stage.