Justice Dialogue Series – Truth and Reconciliation: Concluding Remarks
Documentary Screening and Discussion
The documentary is “Thus Departed Our Neighbours ( Rabba Hun Kee Kariye)”, and it looks at the effects partitioning of India and Pakistan had on the Punjabi population.
This is a unique event since we will have director and producer of the documentary, Ajay Bhardwaj, with us at the screening and the discussion afterwards.
The screening is on Thursday November 28th, at 8:00 PM, in the Social Lounge.
Please see below more information about the documentary:
Thus Departed Our Neighbors ( Rabba Hun Kee Kariye)
65 minutes/ 2007/ English Subtitles/India
Directed and Produced by Ajay Bhardwaj
While India won her independence from the British rule in 1947, the north western province of Punjab was divided into two. The Muslim majority areas of West Punjab became part of Pakistan, and the Hindu and Sikh majority areas of East Punjab remained with, the now divided, India. The truncated Punjab bore scars of large-scale killings as each was being cleansed of their minorities.
Sixty years on, Thus Departed Our Neighbors trails a shared history divided by the knife. In Indian Punjab, people fondly remember the bonding with their Muslim neighbors and vividly recall its betrayal. The documentary excavates how the personal and informal negotiated with the organised violence of genocide. In doing so, it captures for the first time widespread feelings of guilt and remorse about the genocidal violence. In village after village, people recount what life had in store for those who participated in the killings and looting. These informal tales, almost like folklore, are strewn across the memoryscape of Punjab’s countryside. Periodically, the accumulated guilt of a witness or a bystander, surfaces, sometimes discernible in their subconscious, other times visible in the film.
8:00pm,Thursday, November 28
All welcome.
