Project Kashmir

Official Selection, Human Rights Watch International Film Festival 2008

Deep in the Himalayas surrounded by Pakistan, India and China is the lush region known as Kashmir. In 1947, this land became a disputed territory when a newly-independent India and neighboring Pakistan both felt the predominantly Muslim area should come under its control. Kashmir has since become a region that has experienced war and terrorism, with what was once a border dispute having escalating into a dire crisis of international proportions that has sparked fear of nuclear war in addition to the unrest.

In Project Kashmir, two American friends, one with Muslim roots and the other Hindu, take their cameras into the region to investigate the strife, attempt to address unanswerable questions, and document their efforts to understand the territorial conflict. Not only does the film depict the stunning beauty of an area tragically torn apart by violence, it documents a friendship unexpectedly tested due to the filmmakers’ subconscious ties to their respective ethnicity and religion.

From the Sundance-winning editor of Iraq in Fragments and the Academy Award-winning director of Born into Brothels serving as cinematographer, comes this documentary film by Senain Kheshgi and Geeta V. Patel. Through interviews, personal testimonials and incredible visual footage of the territory, the filmmakers draw attention to the tense situation in Kashmir as they endeavor to encourage dialogue between the divided communities.
— Grace Choi





Preceded by:

In a riot-torn area of Bangladesh, a family must juggle compassion and heartache from past injustices when they discover a Hindu boy hiding in their Muslim home as guards pass through.

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