In Memory of Friends
Anand Patwardhan • 1h 0m
Directed by Anand Patwardhan • Documentary • 1990 • 60 minutes
IN MEMORY OF FRIENDS documents the violence and terror in Punjab, India – a land torn apart by religious fundamentalists and a repressive government. After examining the political turmoil of the late 1970′s and the rise of Sikh fundamentalism, the film focuses on the legacy of Bhagat Singh, a young socialist executed by the British in 1931 at the age of 23. Singh has since become a legend. Today the State eulogizes him as a nationalist while Sikh separatists portray him as a Sikh militant. In fact, Singh was neither. Just prior to his death he wrote a book which he entitled ‘Why I Am An Atheist.’ In strife-torn Punjab a band of brave Sikhs and Hindus carry Bhagat Singh’s secular legacy from village to village. In the religiously charged countryside ideas of internationalism and secularism now carry a price.
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Directed by Anand Patwardhan • Documentary • 1981 • 40 minutes
On April 6, 1980, the Canadian Farmworkers Union came into existence. This film documents the conditions among Chinese and East Indian immigrant workers in British Columbia that provoked the formation of the union, and the response o...
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Prisoners of Conscience
Directed by Anand Patwardhan • Documentary • 1978 • 45 minutes
An important historical record of a traumatic period in India’s recent political history, PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE focuses on the State of Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi from June 1975 to March 1977. During the Emergency the media...
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Children of Mandala
Directed by Anand Patwardhan • Documentary • 2009 • 5 minutes
A message from the economically displaced children of a slum colony in Mumbai who are educating themselves in the face of government apathy.
