Her Stories Untold - Women in Confinement - A Feature Length
Project Information
This project is unique because globally, there has been a notable increase in gender based domestic violence at home. According to the Canadian Women’s Foundation (CWF), a woman in Canada is killed by her intimate partner every six days. The Toronto police have noted this significant gap: “Our fear is that there are a lot of women who are experiencing violence in their home and they may not be accessing any services or supports,” “We really want women to know that those services and supports are available, and there are many entry points to getting the services they need.”
COVID19 has shown that there is a 22 percent increase on police calls regarding domestic incidents. In certain areas, there have also been a 22 percent in sexual assaults.
To get there, we need to hear what is happening behind closed doors.
Family members/partners/children are trapped at home in 'confined spaces' 24/7 with their abusers. When no isolation restrictions were in place, these individuals took refuge when they were not in close physical proximity of their abuser. Due to the lock down, everyone has to find a way to co-exist. Fear grows along with the violence behind closed doors. Participants with access to their phones can record their daily self-tapes for 7 days straight to talk about what they are experiencing and how they are coping/avoiding domestic violence in tight spaces. For protecting the privacy of individuals, we will get actors to recreate the self-conversations (or messages/emails sent by participants) and or actual experiences (e.g. conditional to what is innovatively possible during these self-isolation times).
The purpose is to have a secret avenue to tell their stories. In Anthropological terms, this is like “putting your head in the snake’s mouth” or “inviting rage to tea”, allowing the opportunity to use this talk (or message) therapies to expose their fears without fear in secrecy. The permission to tell their stories can be helpful for themselves and to others experiencing the same, telling their trauma exposure where they neither desired nor felt themselves capable of telling their stories to others.
Based on all the true stories, participants can find strength and courage with the confinement of domestic violence, through this empowerment talk therapy. Indirectly, perhaps this can offer a sense of comfort and independence under tremendous pressures.
The voices have the ability to empower, but her stories untold need to be heard so that others can help.
Creative Project Ideas by: Traei Tsai and
in Collaboration with BC Minorities in Film & TV Society
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References:
Amin, F. (2020, April 9). Domestic violence calls surge during coronavirus pandemic. Retrieved April 22, 2020, from https://toronto.citynews.ca/2020/04/08/domestic-violence-calls-surge-during-coronavirus-pandemic/
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