A Woman's Place (2018)

Cooking nourishes, and it empowers individuals. The giving and receiving of food is a political issue that marks a power imbalance in society. Historically, men have been in control of resources and they assign access to food to fulfill their own political agenda. "Food crisis," usually heightened during times of war and genocide, is an inevitable result of colonization, militarization and corruption. Genocide comprises acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. However, women are impacted differently from their male counterparts in genocide. For women in Rwanda, Cambodia and the Indigenous communities in Canada, the struggle to survive continues post-genocide. In these communities ravaged by death and destruction and the loss of vital infrastructure, women learn new skills to survive, including how to start and run their own small businesses. Food for these women has become a statement of resistance as they turn the meaning of domestic space on its head and re-claim the space that was traditionally assigned to them without a choice. Funded by the Canada Council for the Arts, A Woman's Place is a film about Ange, a Tutsi survivor from Rwanda; Yim Nimola and Sokunthea, Khmer Rouge survivors from Cambodia; and Inez, a Nuxalk woman from Bella Coola, Canada, who are turning raw ingredients into sources of power for themselves and many others.