Lights, Camera, Women: A networking collective for cinema aspirants

Malini, a seven-minute Telugu abbreviated film, streaming connected YouTube, features a meet-cute communicative betwixt 2 introverts who instrumentality their clip to bespeak and embark connected a travel of love. The storyline and the communicative benignant are elemental and straightforward. Nothing groundbreaking. The existent story, however, lies down the scenes. This is the archetypal abbreviated movie from Lights, Camera, Women — a Hyderabad-based unfastened networking forum for women aspiring to participate the movie industry.

Founded by Navya Nagesh, who worked arsenic an subordinate manager for Telugu films specified arsenic Ghaatiand Satyabhama, the corporate has much than 250 members from Hyderabad and respective others from Chennai, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Pune. 

Entering the movie manufacture successful 2021, Navya noticed that determination were precise fewer women connected movie sets and reached retired to different women successful the manufacture done societal media platforms. “In the past 5 years, much women person entered the movie industry. But determination are respective others who bash not cognize wherever to begin. Lights, Camera, Women began arsenic a sisterhood forum wherever women tin network, larn astir opportunities, amended their trade and recognize however to navigate enactment spaces,” she explains. 

This collective, which is inactive gathering momentum, is simply a tiny measurement successful the close absorption erstwhile we see the findings of the O! Womaniya 2025 report, which analysed the women workforce successful cinema and streaming platforms.

According to the report, lone 13% behind-the-scenes heads of departments successful Indian cinema are women. When analysed specifically crossed languages, Hindi cinema had 24% women HoDs arsenic against a specified 3% successful Telugu and Tamil movie industries, 2% successful Malayalam and the Kannada manufacture drew a blank.

Lights, Camera, Women was founded a twelvemonth agone with an Instagram leafage and members could articulation the collective’s WhatsApp channel. “We stock accusation astir opportunities and link aspirants to professionals successful the manufacture arsenic interns oregon associates. Currently we person much members from Telugu cinema, but we besides person a fewer successful Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi industries. We notify members astir submissions for movie festivals. This is simply a harmless abstraction wherever women tin interact and get guidance if they consciousness overwhelmed successful the industry. We besides person Pitch Circle sessions successful which stories tin beryllium shared and members springiness constructive feedback,” adds Navya. 

The assemblage maintained a debased illustration successful its archetypal stages, gradually stepping up to big online meets successful which established pistillate professionals conducted sessions connected screenwriting, direction, editing, cinematography and different streams. “Many of our members are besides inclined towards ocular effects, dependable engineering and respective different crafts,” says Navya.

Their 2 caller offline meet-ups successful Hyderabad progressive workshops by established professionals. While writer Gautami Challagulla, directors Padmavathi Malladi, Sesha Sindhu Rao and Manasa Sharma discussed the basics of screenwriting and the challenges of making the archetypal film, exertion Srujana Adusumilli demonstrated editing techniques. Cinematographer Fowzia Fatima, accumulation decorator Manisha A Dutt and dependable technologist Vandana Ramakrishna discussed their respective crafts portion filmmaker and selling nonrecreational Aishwarya Iyer discussed the prerequisites to navigate movie workspaces. 

There is nary rank interest and the forum is unfastened for each pistillate movie aspirants.

(If you are a movie aspirant, cheque the Instagram leafage @lightcamerawomen)