Epidemic of family violence targeted in major new Australian feature documentary
A major crowd-funding campaign has kicked off last month, to support the launch of an international documentary that exposes the horrors of domestic violence against women in India and Indian communities in Australia and around the world.
According to Melbourne-based director, Emma Macey-Storch, 1 in 3 women in Australia will experience family violence in their lifetime.
That high estimate translates to ‘68% of Indian women who experience family violence, with a growing number of Indian women in Australia experiencing dowry harassment and domestic violence’ according to a statement released by Emma’s PR firm.
The documentary may project that domestic violence is not illegal in India, which is questionable.
The documentary will also assert that ‘millions of women in India are beaten, abused and sometimes tortured or killed’, although not contentious, is an issue that does need to be tackled in many countries, including Australia. 
The film sets out to give a voice to the victims and invite every Australian to join in a campaign for change.
For Emma Macey-Storch this campaign is another step in a long career of social impact filmmaking.
“I want to make a film that offers, not takes the viewer into the depth of this issue both behind closed doors in nice houses in suburban Australia but also into the alleyways and houses in India.
“While it is important to not shy away from the atrocities The Colour of Love is also about offering a portrait of hope as we see women and men strive beyond the violence that has touched their lives to drive change right across the world” she says.
“I have seen that solutions don’t always come from the obvious places of the privilege or the powerful. We want to show that ordinary people can change the world.”
The documentary will also have Former Australian of the Year, Rosie Batty in the film.
“I’m delighted to get involved to help raise awareness of these issues in culturally and linguistically diverse communities and in this case the Indian community,” Rosie Batty said.
From Australia to India, the documentary tells the story of four ordinary people as they try to bring an end to family violence both at home and abroad. We follow them as they take on governments, policy makers, corruption and their own families, to bring about a tsunami of change that will inspire the world.
The producers aim to raise enough to take the team back to India and capture a number of critical moments of the story. They are appealing for public funding support through a campaign on https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thecolouroflove/the-colour-of-love-documentary
The Colour of Love hopes to help inspire policy change, shift attitudes, educate and give a platform to so many unheard voices.
The feature-length documentary, slotted for release to theatrical and VOD, in early 2017, hopes to nudge ‘the testimonies of our characters’ and spark a debate at a global level and lift the lid on the culture of silence that allows violence to continue.
Shalini Singh