WCC responds to Vidhu: We stand by our women, regret slander against us

Days after writer-director Vidhu Vincent resigned from the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC), the organisation has responded officially on its social media page saying that it has always stood by the women who reached out to it. WCC began its post by stating that it would like to register its sadness and dismay over the decision of its founder member and colleague Vidhu Vincent to distance herself from the collective.

The first women's organisation in Malayalam cinema formed in 2017 also stated that Vidhu had played an integral part in shaping the collective from the time of its formation.

“We hold in high regard her interventions in strengthening the working mechanisms within the collective, supporting survivors to pursue legal cases, designing media strategies and liaising with government authorities. As a young and small collective surviving in a hostile environment, our members have had to really hold on to one another for strength. WCC’s three-year history has evidenced that sisterhood through many difficult times when our members have stood shoulder to shoulder to protect our Collective’s principles. We have individually had many attacks, but we have tried to learn from them as our cause is bigger than any one individual,” the statement read.

Talking about Vidhu's resignation, WCC explained that it was her individual decision and the collective respect it.

It added, “While we welcome her criticisms, the slander is unfortunate. We are shocked at the allegations against the organisation as they were never raised by her until this sudden resignation. We believe fact and objectivity are key at the moment.

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 the 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.”

It also said that many members had personally reached out to Vidhu several times over the last year sensing her dis-engagement with the Collective. But none of those were positively reciprocated.

“At no point was any explanation demanded from Vidhu, all we hoped was to re-engage with one of our once-most active colleagues. We just wish Vidhu had held on to the mutual trust and spoken her mind, as she, like every other member of the Collective is empowered to do. Further, WCC came together as a support and advocacy forum for women in Malayalam cinema and not as a grievance redressal cell. To all members' knowledge including Vidhu, we have done our best to stand by the women who reached out to us and supported them to the extent of their journeys. True to the collective spirit, WCC’s managing committee comprises all founding members, including Vidhu, and we function in a lateral structure of teams with all work being done in a voluntary capacity. We are far from the ideal we seek to be, but powered by constructive criticism from within and outside WCC, we hope to evolve. We remain open to engaging in conversations with Vidhu that will strengthen WCC while respecting the safe space that we have all strived so hard to create,” it said.

Wishing Vidhu the best in her future endeavours, the association concluded by saying, “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 amongst our members who come from diverse social backgrounds.

We would like to acknowledge all those who have reached out to us at this time and continue to repose faith in WCC. Our friends among the media and public, please know that we are stronger because of your support.” 

After resigning from WCC on July 4, Vidhu Vincent had accused the collective of 'double standards'. She revealed that she was sought an explanation as to why her movie, 'Stand Up', had B Unnikrishnan, director and Film Employees Federation of Kerala (FEFKA) chairman whose last movie was with actor Dileep, as the producer. Vidhu had also pointed fingers at WCC member Parvathy saying that she had approached Parvathy for a role in Stand Up but she was made to wait for six months till Vidhu chose to move on.