Seven Hours To Burn

A film by Shanti Thakur

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SYNOPSIS

"A visually expressive personal documentary that explores a family's history. Filmmaker Thakur mixes richly abstract filmmaking with disturbing archival war footage to narrate the story of her Danish mother's and Indian father's experiences. Her mother survives Nazi-occupied Denmark while her father experiences the devastating civil war in India between Hindus and Muslims. Both émigrés to Canada, they meet and marry, linking two parallel wars. Their daughter lyrically turns these two separate histories into a visually rich poem linking past and present in a new singular identity." Doubletake Documentary Film Festival Catalogue

PRESS

"Exceptionally imaginative...dreamlike...a visually compelling film."

Paul Curci Philadelphia City Paper

"Impressionistic cinematography is juxtaposed with searing archival images while spare narration combines with a nuanced sound design. The viewer is swept into the mood of the piece and must consider the long-lasting effects--both internal and external --of conflict and change."

Kristine Samuelson Stanford University

“Shanti Thakur brings her biracial sensitivies to bear on historical traumas that shaped her parents' separate, but parallel, experiences. Images of past ethnic and religious "cleansing" come poignantly to the fore as she sits by her Indian grandmother's corpse burning on the banks of the Ganges, and seeks peace (her name) for herself, her family, and the world.”

Rosane Rocher University of Pennsylvania

SCREENING HIGHLIGHTS AND AWARDS

Belo Horizonte International Short Film Festival
BBC British Short Film Festival, England
Robert Flaherty International Film Seminar, New York
Nashville Independent Film Festival
Northwest Film Center at the Portland Art Museum
Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival
Brooklyn Arts Council International Film Festival
Mill Valley Film Festival, San Francisco
Maryland Film Festival
Leipzig Documentary and Animated Film Festival, Germany
Right to Have Rights Film Festival, Modena, Italy
One World Film Festival, Ottawa, Canada
Santa Cruz Documentary Film Festival, Los Angeles
Vermont International Film Festival
Cinematheque Ontario, Canada
Shorts International Film Festival, New York
Asian American International Film Festivals - San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York
Museum of Natural History, New York
American Short Shorts 2001, Tokyo
Cannes Film Festival - Emerging Filmmakers Venue
CineWomen New York - Best Documentary Short
Margaret Mead Film Festival
Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema
Pacific Film Archives, Berkeley
Black Maria Film and Video Festival - Director's Choice Award
Cleveland International Film Festival, Best Documentary Short
Big Muddy Film Festival, Bronze Award, Experimental Film
Tampere 30th International Short Film Festival, Finland
New York Expo of Short Films - Gold Prize, Documentary
City Paper's Philadelphia Independent Film Contest - Best Documentary
Edinburgh Film Festival
Nextframe Film Festival - Best Documentary and Best Editing
Columbus International Film Festival - Bronze Plaque
Worldfest-Houston International Film Festival - Bronze Award
Ann Arbor Film Festival
Aspen Shortsfest 2000
Doubletake Documentary Film Festival
THAW 2000 Film Festival
Humboldt International Film Festival
Athens International Film Festival, USA

ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)

Shanti Thakur

Shanti Thakur's visually poetic films have screened at over 200 film festivals and museums around the world. Screenings include: Cannes Film Festival, Hamptons International Film Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, Margaret Mead Film Festival, Flaherty Seminars and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Thakur's films explore how we perceive each other and ourselves through the lens of history, memory and identity. Working easily between documentary, experimental and narrative modes, her films Red Tulips, A Story About Forgetting, Sky People, Kairos, Seven Hours to Burn, Two Forms, Circles and Domino have won 26 awards. Her films have broadcast on the Sundance Channel and PBS, as well as in 22 countries.

Be it short or feature length, she works as director, writer, editor and producer. Thakur has received support from the National Film Board of Canada, the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts, the Independent Film Project (IFP) in New York and the Pew Fellowship in the Arts. She is Associate Professor in the MFA Program in Integrated Media Arts at Hunter College, City University of New York. For more, visit www.shantithakur.com. (07/19)

Subject Areas

Asia Cinema Studies Diversity Eastern Europe Experimental Film Family Relations History Immigration and Exile Jewish Studies Politics Religion South Asia/India

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OUR CATALOG