WCC writes open letter expressing sadness over Vidhu Vincent's resignation and slander

Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) on Wednesday wrote an open letter addressing filmmaker and founder of the collective Vidhu Vincent's resignation and slander. In the open letter, the cinema collective expressed their sadness over Vidhu Vincent quitting the forum and added that leaving the film body was her individual personal decision and they respect it. WCC also mentioned in the letter that Vidhu Vincent never addressed the issues she was facing to the collective openly. 

Women in Collective was started back in 2017. Since its inception, Vidhu Vincent has been a part of the cinema collective and has held them through the thick and thin. Check out WCC's letter. 

WCC addresses Vidhu Vincent's resignation and what went wrong: 

Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) would like to register our sadness and dismay at our Founder member and colleague Vidhu Vincent’s decision to distance herself from the Collective.

Vidhu has played an integral part in shaping the Collective from the time of its formation. We hold in high regard her interventions in strengthening the working mechanisms within the Collective, supporting survivors to pursue legal cases, designing media strategies and liaising with government authorities.

As a young and small collective surviving in a hostile environment, our members have had to really hold on to one another for strength. WCC’s three-year history has evidenced that sisterhood through many difficult times when our members have stood shoulder to shoulder to protect our Collective’s principles. We have individually had many attacks, but we have tried to learn from them as our cause is bigger than any one individual.

Vidhu’s resignation is her individual decision and we respect it. While we welcome her criticisms, the slander is unfortunate. We are shocked at the organisational allegations, which were never raised by her until this sudden resignation. We believe fact and objectivity are key at the moment.

As Vidhu is aware, WCC does not in any way facilitate the making or promotion of any films or regulate who its members work with. As a Collective we have discussed the professional and personal conflicts that arise for each of us in working alongside our detractors in a small industry, without compromising WCC. This matter was also discussed in the context of Vidhu’s film in the Managing Committee meeting on 15.9.19. The discussion included the individual work associations of other members too. Since some members, including Vidhu, were absent, the matter was set aside for more inputs and further deliberations.The minutes were shared with all the members.

Many members had personally reached out to Vidhu several times over the last year sensing her dis-engagement with the Collective; sadly none of these were positively reciprocated. At no point was any explanation demanded from Vidhu, all we hoped was to re-engage with one of our once most active colleagues. We just wish Vidhu had held on to the mutual trust and spoken her mind, as she, like every other member of the Collective is empowered to do.

Further, WCC came together as a support and advocacy forum for women in Malayalam cinema and not a grievance redressal cell. To all members' knowledge including Vidhu, we have done our best to stand by the women who reached out to us and supported them to the extent of their journeys.

True to the collective spirit, WCC’s managing committee comprises all founding members, including Vidhu, and we function in a lateral structure of teams with all work being done in a voluntary capacity. We are far from the ideal we seek to be, but powered by constructive criticism from within and outside WCC, we hope to evolve. We remain open to engaging in conversations with Vidhu that will strengthen WCC while respecting the safe space that we have all strived so hard to create.

As a feminist collective, we strive to learn from the experiences of women and also be an inclusive and safe space for the articulation of all kinds of voices. We cherish and seek to further a culture of debate and open dissent amongst our members who come from diverse social backgrounds.

We would like to acknowledge all those who have reached out to us at this time and continue to repose faith in WCC. Our friends among the media and public, please know that we are stronger because of your support.

We wish Vidhu the best in all her future endeavours. Also wishing good health and peace of mind to everyone during this time of Covid-19.

Onward!

Women in Cinema Collective

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What led to Vidhu Vincent's resignation

Recently, Kerala state-award winning director Vidhu Vincent revealed on her social media that she is resigning from WCC due to personal and political reasons. Following her resignation, Vidhu Vincent wrote an elaborative post explaining her struggles to get a producer for her last release Stand Up and the injustice she faced in the WCC. She pointed fingers at actor Parvathy and said that she waited for six months for actor Parvathy to give her nod for her movie Stand Up. However, the actor never replied, and Vindu Vincent decided to approach Rajisha Vijayan and Nimisha Sajayan, who agreed to be a part of the project. 

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Women in Cinema Collective was established in 2017 after a famous Malayalam female actor was attacked by one of the technicians of her film. The collective strives to create equal opportunities for women in cinema. Popular Malayalam actors and technicians like Manju Warrier, Geetu Mohandas, Anjali Menon, Parvathy, among others are a part of the collective.