Writing With Fire is the story of India’s only newspaper led by Dalit women. This story is seen through the eyes of Meera, Chief Reporter at Khabar Lahariya, who leads the paper’s transition from print to digital news. As Meera contends with the challenges of training semi-literate women in digital technology, she also has to balance her role as a mother and a wife. Making complicated and sometimes difficult choices, Meera blazes a path for Khabar Lahariya’s growth in a news industry dominated by corrupt male journalists in a region known for endemic levels of violence against women. Meera’s protégées – Sunita and Shyamkali – are key secondary characters whose own personal and professional lives paint a canvas of the complex choices women have to keep their own dreams alive, while navigating the social pressures of society. And as the times get more dangerous for journalists across the world, Meera and her team continue to lead the way and break traditions, be it on the frontlines of India’s biggest issues or within the confines of their homes redefining what it means to be powerful.

The film becomes a tool to spotlight the endangering of free speech in India’s shrinking democracy, inspiring global civil action with a focus on supporting independent media, artists and journalists. The film is able to amplify the work of independent media institutions and journalists working across India and raise their profile/ strengthen their work. Create global networks for independent news outlets (including Khabar Lahariya) in India - speaking opportunities/ strategic partnerships/ awards/ commissioned work. A recent example: The International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) announced Khabar Lahariya as a recipient of their 2021 Courage in Journalism Award. KL received this award from Christiane Amanpour at an event in Washington DC. The award was proposed on our Good Pitch table in 2018. IWMF watched Writing With Fire, read about this Washington Post review and reached out to us to connect to KL to review their work. All this added momentum to their decision to confer the award this year.