Preceded by shorts:Meena Nanji's It Is a Crime (U.S., 1997) uses footage from mainstream British and Hollywood films and excerpts from a poem by Shani Mootoo to explore the way in which the image industries have aided the effacement and distortion of culture. (5 mins, Color, 3/4" Video, From Video Data Bank) Shashwati Talukdar's My Life As a Poster (U.S., 1996) is a fictional autobiography imagined through the visages of popular Indian film stars. Talukdar's biopic provokes debate about identity politics and her positioning as a "Third World filmmaker." (7:30 mins, Color, 3/4" Video, From NAATA Distribution)Wielding a whip and bare-knuckling bad guys, blonde, blue-eyed Mary Evans rose to notoriety on the Indian screen as "Fearless Nadia." Part feminist fury, part stunt queen, Nadia could be found in over forty Wadia Movietone films, confounding macho villains while she leaped from horses, forded cataracts, and gallivanted along the top of speeding trains. An Australian by birth, fearless Mary Evans began as a circus entertainer, but was launched as the acrobatic avenger in the 1935 action film Hunterwali. She reigned as the butch bombshell for over twenty years, starring in such gems as Miss Frontier Mail, Tigress, and Jungle Princess. Director Riyad Wadia, Evans's grand-nephew, draws from a wide array of tantalizing clips and wonderful anecdotes from the still feisty legend. Not just a female fisticuffer, Nadia's films had a fearless message as well. In 1940's Diamond Queen, Nadia confronted a bully by saying, "If you want to give the country freedom, you first have to free the Indian woman." If you can't beat her, join her.