Fatima clearly remembers the day her childhood ended. At the age of nine, her parents sold her off to a person under the garb of marriage. It was the beginning of years of exploitation and hopelessness. But one day, she decided to put an end to her sufferings. She escaped from the red light area of Forbesganj in Bihar in 2007, and has since then been involved in saving women and young girls facing a similar plight.
Sourabh Kanti Dutta’s Fatima, being screened in the long documentary competition category at the 14th International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala (IDSFFK), chronicles Fatima’s journey and her attempts to build a new life. Her plight is connected to her community, Nat, one of the denotified tribes that was branded as “born criminals” by the British administration in 1871. The decision is estimated to have led to the practice of inter-generational prostitution in communities, including Nat, with the families or even the husbands forcing young women into prostitution. It is a vicious cycle that Fatima and others are trying hard to break.
