Film poster for "The Bengali" with silhouette of people walking on dirt street with sunset.

An American woman ventures to India to trace her grandfather’s story uncovering complex bonds in search of the truth about her family’s past

THE BENGALI

Name: THE BENGALI
Brand: An American woman ventures to India to trace her grandfather’s story uncovering complex bonds in search of the truth about her family’s past
SKU: The Bengali
Price: 129.0 USD
Availability: InStock

$129.00

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OFFICIAL SELECTION - DOC NYC | SPECIAL JURY AWARD - Roxbury Film Festival | INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN AWARD - Rhode Island International Film Festival

Family Heritage and Ancestry • Cross-Cultural Belonging • Interfaith Understanding • Rural Communities • Diaspora • African-American and South Asian Shared Histories

A stranger in the family sparks a boldly different story of East and West. THE BENGALI takes an African-American woman from Louisiana on an unlikely quest to a part of India where no American has ever gone. There, she must cross deep divides of culture in a search for her grandfather’s descendants, the land he claimed to own, and the truth behind the stories she grew up with.

Raised on tales of his journey from India to the U.S., Fatima Shaik travels from America with India-born filmmaker Kavery Kaul, to understand her heritage. Her journey is tempered with hope, fear, and surprising encounters with the unfamiliar as she learns about her family’s place in a broader narrative of migration and culture.

With unique access to both countries, THE BENGALI reclaims the lost ties between South Asians and African-Americans in the U.S. In the late nineteenth century, the newly arrived men from India married African-American women. The men were Muslim; their wives were Christian. Their vibrant cultural tangle adds resonance to the value of oral history. This moving documentary examines diaspora and the universal human yearning to belong.

University of Oregon | Lamia Karim, Professor & Department Head, Anthropology, Asian Studies
"A deeply humanistic film, THE BENGALI teaches us how to cross cultural differences. It beckons us to think about the meaning of home and belonging. What is home in a transnationalized world? The film asks the audience to think about family and genealogy in our increasingly mobile world."

Vague Visages
“Fatima’s achievements in Khori allow for some profoundly moving sequences in The Bengali. There are small logistic victories and lively conversations about cultural differences; there’s a dance sequence in which young girls interact with an American for the first time — it’s comparable to Chilean children processing their first experience with cinema in Ignacio Agüero’s 1988 documentary One Hundred Children Waiting for a Train.”

Alliance of Women Film Journalists
“A lyrical and poetic documentary that shows how stories and presumptions can change, forging connections that are rich and real - - - not just to the past, but to the world at large.”

Film Threat
"A poignant exploration of heritage and belonging that bridges continents and generations."

Times of India
“The film encompasses the bigger story of the Indian diaspora and the making of America.”

Reel News Daily
“The Bengali is a candid and revelatory dive into past and present, and thus the future. It breaks social and physical barriers, showing the viewer we're all part of a much larger community than we could imagine.”

Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
“In this documentary, award-winning filmmaker Kavery Kaul unfolds the fascinating story of the first South Asian male immigrants to the U.S. who married African-American women and made a home in the black community.”

Broadway World
“A broadly-brushed watercolor landscape of little-discussed history which coaxes audiences into the story. The whole thing is bursting with heart.”

New York Amsterdam News Curtain Raiser
“A touching and beautiful film.”

Indian Express
"An eye-opening journey that connects worlds often seen as separate, showing how heritage shapes lives in surprising ways."

Neon Graffiti
“An absolute gem of a documentary.”

Span
“Kavery Kaul’s documentaries explore the shifting frames of culture, race, class, and belonging. The Bengali addresses the important issue of engagement between people of different faiths.”

AWARDS
Official Selection | DOC NYC
Special Jury Award | Roxbury Film Festival
Best International Humanitarian Film Award | Rhode Island Film Festival

FESTIVALS
Cascadia International Women's Film Festival
Windsor International Film Festival
South Asian Film Festival
Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival
DesiFest
Habitat Film Festival
American Center (Delhi)
American Center (Kolkata)

ADDITIONAL MENTIONS
At DOC NYC: Screen Comment Takeaway; Neon Graffitti favorite
At New Orleans Film Festival: Antigravity top pick; Nola.com gambit top highlight

Theatrical run at Quad (NYC) opening hosted by New York Women in Film & Television and Indian-American Arts Council

Theatrical at Laemmle Royal (LA) opening hosted by 1st Wave Productions & EOS World Fund

One of Nonfics Top 20 Docs of 2022

Special NYC International Migrants Day Screening hosted by NGO Committee on Migration, United Nations Friends of Migration & GCM Champion Countries