Last year P.V. Sindhu smashed her way to a silver medal at the Rio Olympics. Sakshi Malik’s bronze was won through hard fought battles on the wrestling mat, while Dipa Karmakar’s Produnova vault at the same games had the whole world cheering for her. Sport is a test of human endurance, of pushing our physical and mental selves to the limit. In India, from the Olympics to Dangal, sport is now also a powerful tool to bring about change in gender attitudes.

The evening began with the world premiere of Field of Dreams. This touching documentary by Minnie Vaid follows a school principal and a soccer coach who are using football to change the lives of young girls in Jalna district, Maharashtra. This was followed by the screening of Under the Open Sky, a documentary by Shilpa Phadke, Nikhil Titus and Faiz Ullah, about a girls' football initiative that begins to claim open public spaces to play in Mumbai’s Mumbra suburb. 

Havovi Wadia of Magic Bus India Foundation joined the filmmakers for a panel discussion that followed the screenings.