hindu

Filmmaker Geeta Patel Searches for Love

One in a Billion, follows a 29-year-old Hindu man across the globe as he searches for a woman his parents will approve of. The film, by Indian American Directord Geeta Patel, was one of several projects selected by ITVS’s Open Call in 2009 (Note: this year’s deadline is August 6th!).

Ravi Patel is the star of the documentary, co-director on the project, and the filmmaker’s brother. Together, the Patel’s bring a comedic touch to the high-pressured world of arranged marriages.

Geeta Patel previously directed Project Kashmir, which aired last season on Independent Lens.

Learn more about One in Billion and the filmmaker from her interview below…

Tags: comedy, documentary, funding, geeta patel, hindu, ITVS, one in a billion, Open Call, PBS, project kashmir

Monday, July 19th, 2010 Filmmaker Profile, Uncategorized No Comments

Kashmir: An Explosive Eden

The ever-embattled territory of Kashmir in the Himalayas is again in the news, as representatives from Amnesty International arrived there this week to investigate reports of human rights abuses lodged against both Indian and Pakistani combatants. In the 21 years since the Muslim insurgency against Indian rule in the region erupted, between 50,000 and 100,000 people have been killed.

Coincidentally, Project Kashmir premieres on Independent Lens tonight (check local listings). In this beautiful and cogent new show, producers Geeta Patel and Senain Kheshgi sneak their cameras into Kashmir to observe the secretive and anxious lives of the region’s inhabitants, and to look for clues to what started the conflict — which could become nuclear at any time — and how religious and national allegiances can seemingly immunize people to their own most human instincts for survival.

The filmmakers’ journey is especially moving when they find themselves pulled in separate directions by their own divergent ethnicities. Patel — an Indian American Hindu, and Kheshgi — a Pakistani American Muslim find their own friendship eroding as they begin personally identifying with opposite sides of the struggle.

Catch the film tonight on PBS, and watch this exclusive behind-the-scenes footage for a glimpse into this beautiful and deadly region >>