Txell Feixas and six women fighting to change the world
The journalist shows the work of six activists from different countries
BarcelonaIndividual struggles often end up being collective, and this is the case of the six protagonists of the new documentary series by Txell Feixas Torras and 3Cat. Women in struggle The series features the testimonies of several women who literally risk their lives every day to defend their individual rights, but also those of many other people. The production, a project by 3Cat, Mediapro and the Catalan Agency for Development Cooperation, consists of six episodes that will premiere on March 8, International Women's Day, on 3Cat. They will also be available to watch on TV3 in conventional broadcasting from the following day, Sunday March 9 (the first two episodes will be offered on that day; only one episode will be broadcast on the rest of the Sundays). The series also has a podcast version and will have different extras available on the platform.
Women in struggle The series was presented this Wednesday at the University of Barcelona, a stage that has served to demand access to education, precisely one of the issues that Txell Feixas Torras' project touches on in depth. The journalist has been accompanied by three of the protagonists of the series, Ana Rutilia Ical Choc, Samanta Randos and Zuhal Sherzad. Feixas, who has explained that the series is born from the passion of telling stories to understand the world, has remarked that the experience of the women protagonists is "a vindication of journalism and hope in a time of maximum uncertainty." "The series has taken us to many countries and during the journey we have met six ladies. None of them wanted to be activists, but they had to choose between giving up or fighting. Each chapter tries to convey that transformation from victims, although we do not like this word, to activists," explains the National Journalism and Media Award winner.
Regarding the relationship with the witnesses, Feixas confesses that it was not always easy, since the film crew inevitably burst into their lives for ten days. However, he explains that the bond was different when they arrived than when they left.
From Guatemala to Catalonia
The series is a journey around the world to demonstrate the transformative power of women. Women in struggle The film opens with chapters dedicated to Lebanon and Sophie Ndongo, who is working to reverse the situation of slavery for domestic workers in the country, and Afghanistan and Zuhal Sherzad, who has risked her life opening clandestine schools that confront the Taliban. In the case of this last episode, Feixas wanted to highlight the involvement of the witness, since when the filming team did not receive approval for the visa to enter Afghanistan, it was she who recorded herself with a mobile phone that was sent to her.
Women in struggle The documentary also tells the story of Ana Rutilia Ical Choc, from Guatemala, one of the few indigenous lawyers in the country. She has been working for years to protect indigenous lands from the plundering of large international multinationals and has focused much of her efforts on defending the Cahabón River, affected by the Renace hydroelectric plant built by Florentino Pérez. In the episode dedicated to El Salvador, viewers will meet Teodora Vásquez, who was imprisoned on charges of murder after suffering a spontaneous abortion. Since then, she has been working to help other women who are in the same situation. Sister Fa is the protagonist of the episode filmed in Senegal, which shows her fight against female circumcision. Catalonia also has a presence in this documentary series through the housing activist Samanta Randos.
Feixas says that they chose six witnesses, but that they could have chosen thousands who would also serve to explain the world from a female perspective. The journalist has no problem in claiming this series as journalism done from a women's point of view. "I integrated this when I was in the TV3 correspondent's office in the Middle East. There I realized that the conflicts in the world had always reached me through men. I am interested in explaining the struggle of women because I genuinely believe that they do it better because they have a more global vision."
