Mumbai, May 27
Oscar winner Guneet Monga and producer Ashvini Yardi have collaborated with the She Leads Impact Fund on the documentary 'Kicking Balls', to address the history of child marriages in India.
The documentary explores three villages in Rajasthan where an NGO is tackling child marriage through football.
Monga said: "Each year, 12 million girls are married before the age of 18. That's 23 girls every minute. 'Kicking Balls' became a project that we knew could not just be a film; it had to be a conversation. After screening it in several schools across India, I was always asked what more I could do to help these young girls."
"We're storytellers, meant to reflect what we see at the grassroots -- our effort is to tell stories that ignite conversations and spark change in the policies of the country."
Monga said she wishes to go a step further and collaborate to engage 1 million women in areas where child marriage and gender inequality are highly prevalent in India.
A special screening of 'Kicking Balls' was recently hosted in the capital region, attracting impact investors and drawing attention to the urgent need for strengthened national and state-level policies to eliminate child marriage by 2030.
This partnership between the She Leads Impact Fund, Vineyard Films, and Sikhya Entertainment is dedicated to ending child marriage and supporting married girls in rural households.
To support this mission, the She Leads Impact Fund is providing $25,000 in funding to bring transformative change to the lives of women married as children.