PLEASE ARREST ME

Gold Spike
TitlePLEASE ARREST ME
BrandRIT FOUNDATION
Product / ServiceGENDER EQUALITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS
CategoryA02. Fiction & Non-Fiction Film: 5-30 minutes
EntrantOGILVY SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE
Idea Creation OGILVY SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE
PR OGILVY SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE
Production KNIGHTS MEDIA & FILMS Mumbai, INDIA
Production 2 EDITMACHINE Gorizia, ITALY
Production 3 1908 SCORING STUDIOS Los Angeles, USA
Production 4 CREAM DIRECTORS London, UNITED KINGDOM

Credits

Name Company Position
Nicolas Courant Ogilvy Singapore Chief Creative Officer
Eugene Cheong Ogilvy Singapore Creative
Guilherme Camargos Ogilvy Singapore Creative Director
Aritra Dutta Ogilvy Singapore Associate Creative Director
Jonathan Ollivier Ogilvy Singapore Associate Creative Director
Alessandro Agnellini Ogilvy Singapore Associate Creative Director
Vinicius Cunha Ogilvy Singapore Associate Creative Director
Kevin Wijaya Ogilvy Singapore Senior Art Director
Winona Wee Ogilvy Singapore Copywriter
Alvin Chin Ogilvy Singapore Regional Head of Creative Services
Amanda Devarajan Ogilvy Singapore Copywriter
Xavier Mairesse Knights Media & Films Director
Bijal Sunil Majithia Knights Media & Films Line Producer
Lorenzo Colugnati Knights Media & Films Editor
Sacha Chaban 1908 Scoring Studios Music Director
Sameer Lukka Knights Media & Films Protagonist
Sai Gunuranjan Knights Media & Films Director Of Photography
Jaspreet Ranjan Knights Media & Films Editor
Tarun Jain Knights Media & Films Producer
Anirudh Dhanak Knights Media & Films Producer
Rahul Dhir Knights Media & Films Producer
Ritu Bhardwaj Knights Media & Films Researcher
Nicolas Koon Lim Hogarth Singapore Editor
Abdul Rahim Hogarth Singapore Producer

Why is this work relevant for Entertainment?

In India, rape inside a marriage is not a crime. To fight the law, RIT Foundation needed to raise awareness. So we got an activist to turn himself in to the police, pretending he raped his wife. Within minutes, he was freed. We captured the whole process — from him interviewing lawyers, victims, and women on the street, to him going into the police station with hidden cameras and having authorities say that raping your wife is not a crime. The documentary triggered fierce reactions from supporters and naysayers and was awarded by film festivals and critics worldwide.

Background

RIT Foundation is an Indian NGO fighting for women’s rights. One of their biggest challenges is marital rape in a country where it is legal to rape your wife. Despite stats saying 2 in 3 Indian wives are raped by their spouses, lawmakers don’t see the need to prioritise it. We need to create a campaign that raises awareness and sparks debate to pressure authorities to review rape laws.

Describe the creative idea

To prove the absurdity of the law, we sent an activist to turn himself in to the police, pretending he raped his wife. We filmed the entire process — from preparation with lawyers and victims days before, to him being let go as innocent — exposing how police treat marital rape cases. We broke the story as a documentary online, sparking fierce debate on both sides.

Describe the strategy

In the short-term, we wanted to raise awareness by creating debate surrounding marital rape. Supporters and naysayers both had fierce reactions to the campaign and soon, survivors of marital rape in India started coming forward and sharing their stories privately with us. To aid them in recovery, we connected them with counsellors in their state. Our long-term goal was to generate enough conversation to pave the way for the Delhi High Court to criminalise marital rape in India, something we achieved when we secured a petition hearing date scheduled 27 March 2020.

Describe the execution

We launched our campaign on online and social media on International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. To maintain buzz, we latched on hashtags of news such as the 2019 Hyderabad gang rape and articles of marital rape acquittals in India. It previewed at our annual gala & launched on Intl Elimination of Violence against Women Day. It also screened at fests like Best Global Shorts, L'age D'or and Intl Film & Human Rights Fest Valencia.

Describe the outcome

Please Arrest Me made the headline news in India attracting many supporters, but also haters to our campaign for change. Soon, conservatives started flooding our social pages with messages of hate and ridicule, with thousands reporting and successfully taking down our content 4 times. Censorship didn’t shut the debate. Thankfully, the attention helped us gather supporters with bigger influence. To pressure the Delhi High Court, Indian feminist influencers & advocate groups pushed back by sharing our content & encouraging their followers to do the same. Through this, we received countless messages offering to help us out, with some even uploading our video on their own social channels. The conversation progressed and the patriarchal society of India was forced to deal with the issue. The case to change marital rape laws will be heard this year at the Delhi High Court, paving the way to criminalising marital rape nationwide.

Links

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