After production was delayed for several years due to violent fundamentalist opposition in India (the film was eventually shot in Sri Lanka, instead of on location in Varanasi, where the story takes place), Deepa Mehta finally completed her trilogy of films dealing with the coming-of-age of modern India (following 1996's Fire, and 1998's Earth). This final story, set in 1938, is about Chuyia, an 8-year-old girl who, when her elderly husband dies, is sent to one of India's customary widows' homes, where all widows are forced, by Hindu law, to spend the rest of their lives in isolation and mourning. Chuyia's arrival sparks some youthful energy and eye-opening revelations for the women of the house, who are also just beginning to hear murmurings from the outside world of the arrival of Gandhi, and his ideals of modern independence. Brutally heartbreaking yet surprisingly buoyant, with eternally breathtaking visuals, "this work of gorgeous fury...transforms Mehta's feminist rage into an eloquent testament to the hunger for freedom." (Village Voice)
The screening on September 14 will feature a discussion with Devyani Saltzman, filmmaker Deepa Mehta’s daughter and the author of Shooting Water: A Memoir of Second Chances, Family, and Filmmaking, a captivating memoir that is deeply personal in tone and far-reaching in scope. Spanning three continents and five countries, this intimate story recounts Saltzman’s coming-of-age and her efforts to come to terms with her mother during the troubled production of Water in India and Sri Lanka. After living mostly with her Canadian father for eight years, Saltzman was invited by her mother at the age of 19 to work as the third assistant cameraperson for the new film. She accepted, with both women hoping that working together would help repair their relationship. But as violent protests over the film’s subject matter – the fate of Hindu widows in 1938 colonial India – derailed the shoot, their reconciliation became less and less likely. After three years, production began again, this time in Sri Lanka, and Saltzman and Mehta finally were able to come to terms with their past. Devyani Saltzman’s visit is cosponsored with the South Asia and Creative Writing Programs.
More at foxsearchlight.com/water.
2006, color, 1 hour 57 minutes, Canada/India