সাহসী, can đảm, නිර්භීත, jasiri — These words mean brave or courageous in Bengali, Vietnamese, Sinhala, and Swahili.
From September 2022 to May 2023, I field directed and made photographs for four episodes of a six-part series in partnership with Room to Read and Rebel Girls. From our first toe-dip into the project in rural Sri Lanka, to the bumpy, bleary-eyed rides to catch sunrises in Bangladesh, to home-cooked feasts (+ lots of rice wine) and scooter rides along the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, and finally to the outskirts of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, we listened to the stories of each of these young women: gardener Dewmini, girls’ rights advocate Keya, Youtube star Trang, and singer Naifat, who reminded me that teen girls everywhere really want the same thing — control over the trajectory of their own lives.
The episodes are now airing on the Discovery ASIA channel in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam, and on the TLC and Discovery+ India channels in Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Watch the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-A-42ubUbBQ.
Director: Martha Adams
Executive Producer: Ian Blei
Director of Photography: Hasitha Warnasooriya
Field Director & stills photographer: Brooke Herbert
Producers: Jenn Cain and Kate Harloe
Post-production supervisor: Nate Gust
Field Producers: Ihshan Iqbal, Hang Nguyen, Cathy Muema, Monon Muntaka
Room to Read in-country: Afzal Siddique Shonto, Chau Doan, Tharanga Gunawardena, Juvenalius Kuruletera, Delphina Ntangeki
Voiceover: Freida Pinto, Charithra Chandran, Prajakta Koli, Dilshad Vadsaria, Adhir Kalyan, Amita Suman, Amrita Acharia, and Quyen Ngo
Original song: “Who I Am” written by Warsan Shire
