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The World Is Family

(Vasudhaiva kutumbakam, Anand Patwardhan, 2023)

Midwest Premiere

black and white image of a group of people dressed in traditional Indian garb.

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)

See the complete Unorthodocs 2024 lineup.

IMAGE CAPTION
The World is Family, courtesy of the filmmaker.

"A deeply affecting, immensely powerful cinematic lamentation of lost stories and details."
Siddhant Adlakha, Variety

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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

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