In Memory of Friends
October 7

Although most of Patwardhan's films have focused on South Asia, his social concerns are international. As a student in North America in the seventies and eighties, he protested against the Vietnam War, worked with Cesar Chavez, and made this film documenting the untenable conditions encountered by Indian immigrant workers in British Columbia that provoked the formation of the Canadian Farmworkers Union. Shot over a period of two years, the film is eloquent testimony to the progress of the workers' movement despite the hostile response of growers and labor contractors to the threat of unionization.

• Photographed by Martin Duckworth, Kirk Tougas. (40 mins, Color, 16mm, From the artist)

Followed by:

In Memory of Friends (Anand Patwardhan, India 1990).
A compelling argument against religious intolerance and a thoughtful investigation of the uses and abuses of history, this film considers the legacy of Bhagat Singh, a fighter for Indian independence who was hanged in 1931 at age 23. Many Sikh separatists claim Bhagat Singh as an icon for their cause-an odd fate for the author of a book titled Why I Am an Atheist. Meanwhile, the Indian government, celebrating him as a patriot, conveniently forgets his nascent internationalism. Against a backdrop of terrorism and retaliation in Punjab, Patwardhan speaks with people on all sides of the conflict, from young religious militants to defenders of Singh's socialist ideals. Recitations from Singh's writings are a moving counterpoint to some of the interviews, which too often reveal a reliance on distorted histories.-Juliet Clark. Photographed by Patwardhan. (63 mins, In English and Hindi with English subtitles, Color, 16mm, From First Run/Icarus) (Total running time: 100 mins)