Jacoba Barbara Rozema and Aiishwarya Haran, the two stars of The Peace Tree

She?s a teacher, film-maker and photographer, a Bengali and Canadian, an immigrant and a nationalist. But above all, Mitra Sen is a woman raising her voice against discrimination. And she?s being heard, across national, religious, racial, cultural, class and linguistic barriers.

Her first film, Little Red Dot, about her own students raising awareness against racial discrimination, won 12 international awards at film festivals. She?s back with another, The Peace Tree, that has already made waves back home. And she?s just finished shooting her third short film in Calcutta. Each one is a reflection of life, as seen through the eyes of a child, and carries a message close to her heart.

The Toronto-based Sen has been a teacher since 1990. Before that, the film studies graduate from York University, Toronto, was assistant director of an Emmy Award-winning Canadian television show, Degrassi Junior High, for two years. A love for children and a passion for breaking down barriers drove her to become an English (as a second language) teacher for grades two to six, who are children of immigrants.

?In the early 90s, some of my students wore the bindi and had to face racism, with comments like ?Paki dot?. So they gathered their friends and started a movement, all of them wearing the bindi and going around the city raising awareness and educating people about the bindi and what it means,? recalls Sen, who was the only Indian student in her school growing up.

?It?s much more multi-cultural now, but immigrant parents are very scared about their children losing their heritage and culture. Sometimes they go to extremes to protect their kids. The students lead two lives, one of open-mindedness in school and the other of isolation at home. We as educators have a duty to take a stand.?

The London-born founder of Sandalwood Productions changed mindsets with the 46-minute film, The Peace Tree, in Toronto. A story of two girls, one a Christian, the other a Hindu, who want to celebrate each other?s festivals at home ? Christmas and Id. They face opposition from their parents, and end up making the peace tree, which carries the symbols of all religions, an emblem of unity in diversity.

?It was the first ever non-Christmas film to be screened on Canadian national TV as a Christmas special,? smiles the soft-spoken Sen.

?The mayor of Toronto will inaugurate a real peace tree at the City Hall on March 14, 2006, which will be established as Peace Tree Day. The tree is in the making, and children from different communities will decorate it with their cultural symbols, from the Cross to the Om, the Star of David to the Crescent and Star,? she adds.

In Calcutta, she has been shooting for A Handful of Rice for the past month-and-a-half, based on class discrimination.

The 22-minute Bengali film ? ?that?s my heritage? ? has three children as stars, two from St Lawrence School?s evening school for underprivileged children.

?I love using kids who have never acted before, because they?re more spontaneous. Along with the other films, this one, too, will be screened in schools. They all have a message. That?s the teacher part of me,? she signs off.