Saturday, June 28, 2025, 2:00 pm, classic-editor
Filmmaker in person!
FREE – seating is limited.
Register for free tickets
In this documentary in Kolkata, India, where marriage is considered the ultimate feminine career fulfillment, four young Muslim women challenge stereotypes by learning to box with one of India’s first female boxing coaches. As they train, the women negotiate poverty, battle tradition and learn to confront fear.
The screening is free, but please support New Light, a nonprofit in Kolkata, India, featured in the documentary, dedicated to providing a safe haven for the children of sex workers. Your donations will help them continue their comprehensive community services. https://www.paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/2817738
Alka Raghuram, director of Burqa Boxers, is an award-winning filmmaker and a multidisciplinary artist. She has made several fiction, experimental, and documentary films. She was awarded the L’Oreal Woman of Worth Filmmaker Award for her script The Conqueror at Tribeca All Access. Her script Ayna was a finalist at the Sundance Screenwriters Lab. Alka frequently collaborates with other artists to create narrative performances and installations. Some of her collaborations include “Yatra” with Kathak and Flamenco dancers Pandit Chitresh Das and Antonio Hidalgo Paz; “Agni” with choreographer Charlotte Moraga and musician Alam Khan, and a photo, video and art installation Inspired by Burqa Boxers at the Locarno Film Festival. She recently received Creative Work Fund for a multimedia project called “Invoking The River” about the river Yamuna’s mythological significance and its environmental degradation in collaboration with Chitresh Das Institute of dance.
WINNER – Locarno Film Festival, co-production market top prize: Grant Open Doors
WINNER – Westlake International Documentary Festival, IDF Forum: Director of the Year