Working at age 7 and married off by her Bangladeshi family by 12, Selina's existence could have been doomed. But a $60 loan with her future as collateral gave her hope and new life.
Documentary filmmaker Gayle Ferraro's gritty 2000 documentary, "Sixteen Decisions," interweaves this life and that of a bank founder who has helped millions of women like Selina, to create a gripping work about economic oppression in developing countries.
With her company Aerial Productions, Ferraro seeks to bring personal accounts of extraordinary stories to the film circuit while encouraging community involvement as a component of audience experience with her documenta ries.
Getting off to an art-film start, "Decisions" begins by introducing the viewer to the rural landscape that is home to 18-year-old impoverished mother of two Selina.
We then meet Dr. Muhammad Yunus, founder of the 22-year-old Grameen Bank, which has made tiny, no-collateral loans to millions of Bangladeshi women.
Women who borrow from the bank are encouraged to follow a creed of 16 "decisions," aimed at empowering them to overcome their dismal situations. Examples of these include:
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"We shall not live in dilapidated houses. We shall repair our houses and work towards constructing new houses at the earliest."
"We shall grow vegetables year round. We shall eat plenty of them and sell the surplus."
"We shall plan to keep our families small. We shall minimize our expenditures and look after our health."
As the story unfolds, the viewer is simultaneously involved in the modern-day discussion on international development, including issues such as microcredit - small loans to entrepreneurs who otherwise wouldn't be able to obtain traditional credit, social equity, cultural survival and access to health care.
Like most Bangladeshi housewives, Selina was a child laborer by the age of seven because her parents were too poor to feed her.
They arranged for her marriage at 12 and sold their land for dowry, which left them as beggars when her father became blind.
"Dowry is a killer in Bangladesh," Yunus says in the film.
With a $60 loan from the Grameen program, Selina starts a rickshaw business.
As viewers experience the seemingly endless drudgery of her daily life, she reflects on her past, social issues such as dowry, birth control, education and housing; and what she hopes for in the future.
Acting as a sort of annotator for the film, Yunus provides commentary from the objective position of someone who has loaned more than $2.3 billion to women in an attempt to help them overcome the economically oppressive conditions found in developing countries.
Ferraro's own experience with the women in Bangladesh is woven into the narrative. The film shows the effects of a society that practically considers women property.
Ferraro, who recently completed the yet-to-be released "Anonymously Yours," a documentary about prostitutes in Myanmar, is a former researcher for the Public Broadcasting System.
A discussion after the film will be led by Acci¢n New Mexico, a nonprofit organization that offers loans and training to entrepreneurs statewide.
"Sixteen Decisions" ran Wednesday and will show again tonight at 8 p.m. at Plan B Evolving Arts Theater, 1050 Old Pecos Trail in Santa Fe.
Call (505) 982-1338 for more information.
