The Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) issued a statement after the resignation of their founding member and filmmaker Vidhu Vincent. (Photo: Instagram/wcc).
The Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) of the Malayalam film industry on Wednesday issued a well-balanced statement addressing the controversy that followed the public resignation of WCC’s founding member and filmmaker Vidhu Vincent.
The Collective has devoted significant space in its statement to acknowledge all the contributions made by Vidhu to strengthen the all-women organization. However, it also regretted how she quit the organization. “Vidhu’s resignation is her individual decision and we respect it. While we welcome her criticisms, the slander is unfortunate,” read the statement posted on the social media handles of WCC.
“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,” added the statement.
For the uninitiated, Vidhu Vincent recently accused Women in Cinema Collective of ‘double standards’ and resigned from her post in WCC alleging that she was asked to explain how she happened to work with director B Unnikrishnan, a supporter of Dileep, on her film Stand Up.
It is said that Vidhu refused to respond positively to repeated attempts from the members of the association to reach out to her.
“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 among our members who come from diverse social backgrounds” said WCC.