The legendary Indian documentarian illustrates “the personal is political” with this rich film that tracks the intertwined histories of his family and India itself.
Anand Patwardhan is known for his brave documentaries that question his country’s dominant Hindu nationalist ideology. In The World Is Family (an old Sanskrit phrase), Patwardhan examines the memories of his family’s elders who had fought for India’s independence alongside Mahatma Gandhi. As Patwardhan learned about his family’s history, he began filming them with whatever equipment was at hand and soon all family gatherings became an exercise in oral history. A decade after his parents’ deaths, Patwardhan revisited the footage and found it a revelation. Today, self-confessed supremacists whose ideology once inspired Gandhi’s murder are in power. As they rewrite India’s history, memories of the past have become more precious than mere personal nostalgia. In Hindi with English subtitles. (96 mins., DCP)
Read more
About the speaker
Amrutha Kunapulli
Unorthodocs 2024 is part of the 2024 FotoFocus Biennial: backstories.
FILM/VIDEO PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BY
National Endowment for the Arts
Ohio Humanities
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY
Rohauer Collection Foundation
WEXNER CENTER PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BY
Greater Columbus Arts Council
The Wexner Family
Institute of Museum and Library Services
Mellon Foundation
Every Page Foundation
Ohio Arts Council, with support from the National Endowment for the Arts
CampusParc
Nationwide Foundation
Ohio State’s Global Arts + Humanities Discovery Theme
The Columbus Foundation
Axium Packaging
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY
Ohio State Energy Partners
Ohio History Fund/Ohio History Connection
David Crane and Elizabeth Dang
Melissa Gilliam and William Grobman
Rebecca Perry Damsen and Ben Towle
The World Is Family