27
Dollars: Banking for the Poor
The friendly employees of the Grameen Bank encourage Indian women
in a small rural town to expand their businesses, loaning them small
amounts of money and doling out advice.
(more)
Ajit
A close-up view of an eight-year-old boy who works as a domestic
in Calcutta. Despite his hard life, he feels fortunate to have a
job that gives him food as wages. (more)
Beasts
of Burden
India's cities are thronged with faceless rickshaw workers. This
film puts a human face on those at the low end of the caste system
whose only chance to eke out a bare subsistence for their families
is to do the work done by beasts of burden in more affluent societies.
(more)
Caste at Birth
A report of the condition of Indiašs "untouchables," whose segregated
life has kept them in poverty despite promises of reform. (more)
City of Djinns
Delhi's archaeological ruins, and some of its intact buildings,
mirror the city's history of religious strife. The warfare between
Muslims and Hindus continues to this day and affects the political
climate of Delhi. (more)
Dalda 13
An Indian woman photographer, who photographed notables such as
Gandhi, Ho Chi Minh, Queen Elizabeth, and Jackie Kennedy, yet had
to publish under her husband's name. (more)
Dancing Girls of Lahore
Despite the strict Moslem laws that govern Pakistan there is another
tradition in Lahore: the girls are descendants of a courtesan community
that danced for the princely courts. The girls today still entertain,
but consider themselves as potential film stars, not prostitutes.
A Day Will Come
A Pakistani middle class family celebrates the engagements
of their two children each who has followed a different path. The
son, keeping to tradition, is marrying a woman he has never met.
The daughter, a career woman, has chosen her own husband-to-be.
(more)
Diverted to Delhi
A new phenomenon in the global economy: toll-free telephone numbers
are often answered by Indians impersonating local operators. This
film follows a group of university graduates as they prepare themselves
for prestigious jobs in Indian call centers, learning to speak and
think like their international callers. (more)
Encounters with Truth: Rajmohan Gandhi
The grandson of Mahatma Gandhi is an inspiring leader in India ,
seeking to fulfill the spiritual mission of his grandfather. (more)
Fearless: Stories from Asian Women
(3 Parts).
Portraits of three Asian women fighting for social justice. Each
is from a different culture (Bangladesh, India, Vietnam) but are
united by their refusal to remain silent and accepting. (more)
Gift of A Girl.
A powerful and moving film exploring the complexity of female infanticide
in southern India and showing steps that are being taken to eradicate
the practice. (more)
In Gandhi's Footsteps
Kiran Bedi, a small woman with
a huge mission, has been compared to Mother Theresa and Mahatma
Gandhi. She is, in fact, a police woman-- and a reformer (more)
India Cabaret
Mira Nair's award-winning film shows the life of female strippers
in a Bombay nightclub. The women reveal their hopes and fears, while
showing strength and resilience. (more)
India: Medical Tourism
Indias booming private healthcare system is expected to be worth
billions of dollars in the decades to come, as westerners flock
to India to get healthy. Fed up with long lines and exorbitant fees
at home, these patients can now fly to the subcontinent and go straight
to the front of the line for cheap operations in newly built, hi-tech
hospitals. (more)
India: Turmoils of the Century
Using archival footage never before seen in the West, this epic
film traces the history of the past hundred years on the Indian
subcontinent with all of its religious, ethnic and political turbulence.
(more)
Kasthuri
A portrait of a twenty-one year
old Indian film star, who despite the glamour of her career, still
has the traditional values of her parents. She will have a suitable
arranged marriage. (more)
Laughing Club of
India
Mira Nair's latest documentary is a portrait of the "serious laughers"
who meet daily in India - and now in the U.S. as well - to laugh
as a group in order to improve their health. (more)
Licence to Kill.
This BBC film exposes how fundamentalist interpretation of the Koran
in Pakistan leaves women vulnerable to be murdered for seeking divorce.
(more)
Memoirs of a Hindu Princess
This biographical portrait of the grandaughter of a Maharaja spans
modern Indiašs history from British rule through independence until
today. (more)
Mother Teresa's First Love
Filmed in Calcutta at a hospice founded by Mother Teresa, we learn
how her legacy of devotion to the destitute inspires the volunteers
who now care for them (more)
My Mother India
A lively portrait of the mixed marriage beween a scholarly Sikh
and his Australian-born wife, which unfolds against the complex
social, political and religious events which tore the family apart.
(more)
Pandit Nehru: A Profile
A biography of the first Prime Minister of India, who played such
a vital role in that country's independence. The portrait explores
this intellectual leader's relationship with Gandhi, who represented
the spiritual side of government. (more)
Punjabi Love Story
The love affairs of the young men and women of Jaranwala - a village
just a few hours out of Lahore - keeps entire families entertained
with gossip and sexual intrigue. Through the eyes of a Western woman
who has lived in the Punjab for decades, we gain extraordinary access
to the private lives and thoughts of her young chef Nawaz and her
maid, Mehnaz. (more)
Runaway
Grooms
Many men of Indian origin residing in the West travel to India to
meet an Indian woman, marry her and bring her to the West. Increasingly
a large percentage of these brides are abandoned over dowry disputes.
(more)
Salaam Shalom.
Jews have a long history in India. Although only a handful remain,
they maintain their traditions.(more)
Seed and Earth
Made by a team of distinguished filmmakers/anthropologists, Seed
and Earth is a film about everyday life in rural West Bengal.
We see how gender and age determine work, ritual and leisure activities.
(more)
Singing Between Two Worlds:
Learning Traditional Music in the Heart of Modern India
A warm portrait of one of the most revered musical families in India,
in which the cherished tradition of dhrupad vocal music is passed
on from father to son. It presents for the first time on film an
in-depth look at the musical training fundamental to this special
music. (more)
Tales of Pabuji: A Rajasthani Tradition
Using animation techniques combined with filmed actual performances,
this colorful production documents an ancient storytelling tradition
still ongoing in India. It recounts the epic of Lord Pabuji of Rajasthan.
(more)
Tapoori: Children of Bombay
This visually stunning film focuses on two street children who survive
in Bombay by guile, toughness and with the protection of other boys
like them. (more)
Viva Bengali
This charming film contrasts ideas of marriage, courtship and divorce
between generations and cultures. It follows Hindu Smita Acharyya
and Catholic Remi Boudreau who, in order to escape the complications
of a large, family wedding, decided to elope to Las Vegas. But they
can't escape, and are married again, in a Bengali style wedding
arranged by Smita's mother. (more)
We Homes Chaps
A boarding school reunion high in the Himalayas is the setting for
this multi- layered portrait of a culturally diverse group at midlife.
Their alma mater was "the Homes", a boarding school that began as
an orphanage in British colonial times, and over time morphed into
an elite institution for the children of diplomats and businessmen
working in Asia. (more)
Women in Bangladesh
Taslima Nasreen, Bangladesh writer, gained international attention
when Islamic leaders issued a fatwa calling for her death.
She has demanded more freedom for women in Bangladesh. (more)
