Important Announcement
Petals In The Dust has a new subtitle
As we shoot in India and meet all the beautiful girls who have survived being eliminated, we decided to change our subtitle from "India's Missing Girls" to " The Endangered Indian Girls". Because of rampant sex-selective abortions
and infanticide, there are fewer girls than boys in some parts of India. This is leading to an
increase in trafficking, child marriages, bride buying from other parts
of India and domestic violence. And then there are the dowry deaths
which happen daily in India.
Welcome
Thank
you so much for stopping by the Petals In The Dust Indie Go Go campaign. We are launching this campaign a few hours before we leave for India to shoot the film as we need to raise an additional $6000 to fund our shoot in India.
You may be aware of female infanticide in China. Unfortunately, the practice is rampant
in India as well and over 10 million girls have been killed by their families in the last two decades.
Like you there are hundreds of people in India and across the globe who do not know that this is happening in India.
Petals In The Dust will be a voice for women like Tulsi seen in the video above, who had their daughters taken from them and murdered.
We owe this film to the girls and women of India who are victims of one of the worst forms of gender discrimination.
A Little Background about this 'gendercide'
As
you read this page, FIVE baby girls will be murdered in India.
In the 21st
century, despite the booming economy the practice of sex selection and
infanticide has escalated among Indian families, resulting in an alarming
decline in the female population.
Over 7,000 females are reported to be murdered daily. 50 Million have been eliminated from India's population in the last century.
This
gender discrimination often starts before birth and continues throughout a
womans adult life, most deeply felt from the womans own family.
The
bias against females in India is related to the fact that sons are called upon
to provide income; they are the ones who do most of the work in the fields. In
this way sons are looked to as a type of insurance. With this perspective, it
becomes clear that the strong preference for males decreases the value given to
females.
The
problem is also intimately tied to the institution of dowry, in which the family of a prospective bride must pay
enormous sums of money to the family in which the woman will live after
marriage. Though formally outlawed, the institution is still pervasive.
Why support this film?
This
is more than just a film. It's a cause, a movement that has already inspired
people to make a difference and do something to save the lives of girls in
India.
The film has three main goals
1. Explore the reasons, consequences and solutions to stop this 'gendercide'
2.Create awareness among the Indian and International communities and inspire them to help stop this genocide.
3. Promote the value of girls and women especially to the Indian youth.
The 2011 census in India has revealed that this
gendercide is continuing unabated and the ratio of girls to boys is 914 to
1000, the lowest reported since Indias independence in 1947. In some parts of
India the ratio is as low as 500 girls to a 1000 boys.
The
UN has warned that this is leading to an increase in violence against women,
trafficking and child marriage. It is reported that over 80,000 people are
trafficked into India from neighboring countries and about 80 percent of these
are girls and women.
WE BELIEVE THAT THIS FILM
WILL SAVE LIVES BY OPENING HEARTS and turn
the tide on an epidemic of violence against India's baby girls.
Why Donate
We need to raise an additional $6000 for our shoot in India this December 2011 and January 2012. If you are looking to make a year end tax deductible donation, please support our film. San Francisco Film Society is
our fiscal sponsor and will send you a tax receipt.
Since our
first IndieGoGo campaign for Petals In
The Dust, we've been heartened, humbled and amazed at the support and
response to the film. We are also excited to have
This is how we would use your contributions
1.)
Funding for equipment rental in India
2.)
Funding
to pay local crew in India
3.)
Funding
for archival footage from India
4.)
Funding
selected musical clearances from Indian musicians
We hope you will help us reach our goal. Any additional
funding, this will go towards editing the film.
Other Ways You Can Help
Be
a Petals promoter and a champion for the cause!!
- Follow us on Twitter and tweet about the film
- Like us on Facebook and invite your friends to like our film page too
- Blog about us
- E-mail the film's YourTube trailer to your friends
- Encourage people to donate to our Indie Go Go campaign
