Partition Documentary
Nikita Desjardins
Binita Kane travels to Bangladesh to discover what happened when her Hindu father Bim had to flee his ancestral village as a young boy. Mandy Duke travels to Calcutta, scene of some of the worst partition violence, to uncover the amazing story of her grandfather Arthur Wise, who filmed there as violence broke out. And Asad Ali Syed and his grandson Sameer, two British Muslims with Pakistani heritage, journey to the Indian town of Ambala, to search for the house where Asad was born before his family were forced to flee to Pakistan.
The Fourth Partition, weaves together Polish and American history focusing on the economic and political reasons of the influx of 4 million Poles to the United States between 1870 and 1920. At the dawn of the 20th century, Chicago was the second largest city in the United States with over 2,000,000 residents. It was also the center of Polish culture and political activism in America. With Poland partitioned between Russia, Austria and Germany, over 4,000,000 Poles immigrated to the United States between 1870 and 1920 in search of a better life.
The Official Trailer for the documentary film The Fourth Partition. a historical documentary about Poles in America, specifically Chicago at the dawn of the 20th Century. Directed by Adrian Prawica, Associate Producer Rafal Muskala, Amerykafilm 2013. Film talks about the great Polish economic migration, as well as economic and political reasons for the migration of over 4 million Poles to America between 1870 & 1920. Theme song by Jeton Murtishi
For four days, you can enjoy a true cultural experience that includes nonstop live music, dance performances, authentic Polish food and beer, exhibitions, local merchants, a casino, beer garden, a Kids Stage and area filled with great activities and much much more!
The one visual from her story which affected me most, as a child, was of the dead bodies she saw floating in the lake at Karnal (now in Haryana) once she had crossed over to the Indian side. Karnal was a place I knew well. It was a small town where we would stop for breakfast on the way to our yearly summer holidays in the hills. It was this one detail that made her story real to me. I imagined the place, which to us was a mere pit stop, as a camp for refugees where a 12-year-old girl once witnessed a horrific sight that she never forgot.
As I grew older, I began asking her about her village in Multan. She spoke with much affection about her time there. People on the other side had once been her own. There was an emotional cord connecting her to the land of her birth. Familial logic made me feel the same way. It was her memories and the way she recounted them, which, for the first time, made me feel the tug of my roots that lay on the other side.
Mara Ahmed and I met in the Fall of 2007 when I was a fresh-off-the-boat graduate student in upstate New York. Mara was a local, living with her husband and two children near the city of Rochester, which I was to call home for the next three years. I was there with a single-minded determination, to become a documentary filmmaker. At the time, Mara had been working on her first documentary film about Muslims in America, and in the process, was taking some classes at my university. We found out about each other through students and professors who knew us both.
The ease of interaction and exchange of ideas between Mara and me, be it on nationalism, fundamentalism, borders or religion, created a solid foundation of trust and understanding between us. Partition stories were very close to our hearts, with both of us having grown up with them. We both had always felt the need to document these personal narratives, even if it were for a personal family archive. Doing it collectively was an exciting thought that we decided to explore together.
Seven years after the seed of the idea was sown, the film was finally completed. Now, after two years of numerous screenings around the world, at film festivals, cultural spaces and universities in the US, UK, Europe and Australia, A Thin Wall has finally arrived in India. With only a few screenings behind us, and many more planned across cities over the next few months, the journey feels like it has just begun.
Looking back, I fondly remember the time I spent with Mara in Rochester. She had invited me over for lunch one afternoon when her mother was visiting from Lahore. I still remember feeling absolutely charmed by both of them as they prepared the meal together while standing in the kitchen and singing old Bollywood film songs. They were singing a K.L. Saigal song while trying to imitate his nasal voice. The kitchen had filled up with their laughter, and I had felt like I was home.
My friendship with Mara continues to grow despite the fact that we have not seen each other since 2011. I feel that I have lived through a very unique experience with her, and no matter what happens, we will always have that. My hope is that one day soon, both of us can travel to Pakistan and she can visit India, to present our film together. Nothing happens unless you dream it first.
A Thin Wall is a documentary about memory, history and the possibility of reconciliation. It focuses on the Partition of India in 1947, but derives lessons that remain urgently relevant today. Shot on both sides of the border, in India and Pakistan, A Thin Wall is a personal take on Partition rooted in stories passed down from one generation to another. It is written and directed by Mara Ahmed and co-produced by Surbhi Dewan. Both filmmakers are descendants of families torn apart by Partition. The film is also a work of art infused with original animation, music and literary writing.
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Marking the centenary of partition was always likely to be fraught. Doing so in the wake of the tensions stoked by Brexit, the return of border disputes over customs posts, and growing uncertainty over the future of Northern Ireland made it no less so.
Although it facilitated the establishment of Northern Ireland, there was little appetite to commemorate a border that cut across unionist and Protestant communities and institutions, including the Orange Order and the Protestant Churches, as indiscriminately as Catholic and nationalist ones.
To mark the Partition of India 60 years ago, in 2007 BBC Television produced the compelling historical documentary The Day India Burned. The film explores the hidden history of what happened when Britain withdrew from India in 1947 which triggered one of the biggest migration in history. 15 Mmillion where displaced and an estimated million lost their lives in the brutal violence that occured. The story is told through the testimony of people who lived together for centuries, but were forced out of their homes as one of the largest and most ethnically diverse nations in the world was divided. Dramatised reconstructions evoke some of the mistrust, violence and upheaval that ensued.
British rule in India ended in 1947 and the subcontinent was partitioned along religious lines to form the Hindu-majority state of Pakistan. As soon as the New Borders were announced, more than 12 million Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs fled from their homes on one side of the borders to what they believed was refuge on the other side. However, the massive exchange of population left a trail of death and destruction. Within 2 months about 1 million people were slaughtered in fierce religious riots. The Legacy of that violent separation has endured, resulting in a bitter rivalry between the two nuclear powers India and Pakistan.1History the definitive visual guide, p410-411, DK publishers
Noncooperation and passive resistance were methods that Gandhi had used in his successful battle for the rights of the Indian minority in South Africa. He also followed this path in India, because he believed the British rule was made possible only through the cooperation of the Indian people and that this method (of noncooperation) could thus force political change.
Colonial Territories tended to be under-industrialized and in many the standard of living was really low. They supplied raw materials to power European industry, but the development of their own national economies was not seen as a priority
During the 20th century increasingly, citizens demanded the right to self-govern. Although the Imperial powers began to make some concessions towards power-sharing, they remained determined to hold on to economic control of the natural resources of their colonies.
Apart from having a predefined new border between India and Pakistan (Hindu and Muslim), the India partition was totally uncoordinated. The British army was in a great hurry to leave India, and the two infant governments showed great insensitivity in the form of trying to supervise the migration militarily. Even police officers were often among the rioters.
The migration itself, the largest in history, took the form of huge caravans filled with frustrated people full of resentment and anxiety. This gigantic number of people had to leave everything behind- home, wealth, familiar people and neighborhood, jobs, etc. Moreover, the journey of hundreds and thousands of kilometers in unknown territory was marked by the exploitation of women, robbery, and harassment of all sorts, apart from the carnage that many were subjected to. Also, it is documented that in the caravans were organized rioters, often local officials, stirring up emotions and initiating acts of violence.
Once the violence started stories as well as images of such violence was propagated in a manner so as to arouse the feelings of more fear and resentment. Thus, violence spread like a wildfire and often enjoyed local support of police officers. Given the magnitude, this rapid violence engulfed millions, making it a horrific one!
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