Eleventh Annual Collection

Walking Home




4:03 min
Experimental
Director: Nuala Cabral


Winner of the Speaking Out Award

ABOUT THE FILM

Throughout my 20s I lived in several cities and saw that street harassment was present everywhere. I realized that navigating street harassment is an art. Growing up I would ignore catcalls and other kinds of harassment, but later found myself in spaces where ignoring these behaviors could lead to violence. I found this fascinating and disturbing, and as a filmmaker, I felt compelled to respond. WALKING HOME attempts to question and disrupt the acceptance around these normalized, everyday interactions.

Screening WALKING HOME for young people in high schools, middle schools and community programs has led to some necessary dialogue about street harassment and the issues it brings up, such as self-esteem, gender, sexuality, violence and community.

Creating the film has been a useful tool to generate dialogue on the Internet too. But a film cannot reach everyone. So what next? What happens after the YouTube comments and Facebook conversations? How else can I reach people beyond the classroom, beyond the film showcases and beyond the screen?

Fortunately social media did more than bring WALKING HOME to a wider audience – it connected me to a movement determined to end street harassment and gender-based violence. Exposure to this movement, and the writers, activists, and other filmmakers taking this on, inspired me to take action and engage in my community.

This past March I organized Philadelphia’s efforts for the First Annual International Anti Street Harassment Day. Nearly twenty young people took to the streets to engage our community in dialogue around this issue. Leading up to this event, I adapted the script from WALKING HOME for the stage. WALKING HOME is now part of a larger movement that is calling for an end to street harassment and inspiring communities to care and to act.

RELATED CATEGORIES

Media That Matters 11, gender / women
Creative Commons License: Attribution, Non-Commercial, No Derivative Works