Spotlight program on Women, Gender Equality in partnership with UN Media and Apne Aap at SR Socially Relevant™ Film Festival NY 2018

MANHATTAN, N.Y. - March 14, 2018 - PRLog -- [NEW YORK, NY] SR Socially Relevant Film Festival 2018 (SRFF 2018) hosts a spotlight program in partnership with UN multimedia and Apne Aap Women Worldwide on Monday, March 19 from 6 pm to 8 pm at Cinema Village. The program includes shorts from the UN Multimedia organization, Apne Aap, and a portion of Ruchira Gupta's Emmy Award-winning film 'The Selling of Innocents', as well as a panel discussion hosted by Dr. Gupta. Tickets are available via Eventbrite.

The program begins with a screening of a curated selection of short films in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and specifically SDG 5 (gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls). Some of the films will come from the repertory of the UN Multimedia, and some will be from the Apne Aap collection of films made by the women rescued from the red light districts of India.

A discussion with the audience immediately follows the screening with a panel including Dr. Ruchira Gupta, some of the filmmakers whose works are screened, experts and advocates of women's issues. Dr. Gupta is the founder of Apne Aap Women Worldwide, and was involved in SRFF 2016 and presented the 'Vanya Exerjian - Empowering Women and Girls Award'.

Among the other panelists are Ambassador Swanee Hunt, founding Director of the Women and Public Policy Program; Simone Monasebian, Director New York UNODC Office; Felicia Greenfield, actor, activist (Homeland, House of Cards); and Jessica Vale, filmmaker, activist (Small Small Thing).

The short films to be screened include:

Excerpts from Ruchira Gupta's Emmy Award Winning documentary 'The Selling of Innocents'
'India: Girls for Sale' - 2016 - 13'
'Lebanon: Women Carve Their Destinies' - 2016 - 8'
'Canada: A History of Violence' - 2016 - 10'
'Saving Women's Rights in Iraq' - 2017 - 9'

The program strives to bring together some of these prominent women who have supported the festival in the past, the women filmmakers in the past selections of the festival, and international advocates of women's rights of all genders.

Visit www.ratedsrfilms.org for schedules, film synopses and filmmaker bios.

The rapidly-growing, social-issue based festival is now in its fifth year. SRFF is a multi-faceted event that embodies the cultural values of New York and the world. SRFF 2018 showcases 70 films across an array of platforms from emerging, international and local filmmakers. There will be several spotlight programs, industry workshops and panels on different regions and issues.

Festival Founder and Artistic Director Nora Armani says, "SRFF extends warm thank you to the UN and Ruchira Gupta of Apne Aap for participating in this event. Apne Aap is a shining example of what SR stands for. Every woman and girl around the world deserve a voice, and dialogues like these help to project their voices even further."

ABOUT SR SOCIALLY RELEVANT FILM FESTIVAL NY

SR Socially Relevant ™ Film Festival New York is a 501(c) 3 non-profit film festival founded by actress Nora Armani. The Mission of the SR Film Festival is to shine the spotlight on filmmakers who tell compelling, socially relevant™, human interest stories, across a broad range of social issues. During its first four years, the festival showcased 207 films from 35 countries. Submissions are received from all over the world.

For more information about SRFF 2018 events and sponsors, as well as past festival editions and sponsors, visit www.ratedsrfilms.org.