On-going Projects

Filming an interview with political leaders in Ram Rahim Nagar

1. Documentary with the working title, An Island of Peace. A few years ago a fury was set loose in India. In the city of Ayodhya, an ancient mosque that had been built on the foundation of an even more ancient Hindu temple was razed by fundamentalists. They were egged-on by politicians who hoped to gain from the conflict.

A few days later a train-load of boisterous Hindu pilgrims returning from Ayodhya were stopped at a station somewhere in Gujarat when a mob of incensed Muslims fell upon them. They bolted the trains doors shut, soaked the cars with gasoline and set fire to them. Fifty eight men, women and children screaming and clamoring at the barred windows were immolated.

The blow was passed on. Riots broke out all over Gujarat. The epicenter of the violence was the immense, grimy industrial city of Ahmeddabad. Mobs (Hindus this time) of merciless men surged through the streets - not to loot, but to murder. Men with a passion to see blood running on their hands, to smash flesh with bricks and feel bones breaking, to rape, to have their skin hot from burning buildings - to kill.

There was a quiet village of working people in the midst of the city. Untouchables and impoverished Muslims for the most part. It was once a separate town, but had over time been engulfed by the growth of Ahmeddabad. Even so, it retained a separate identity. As a symbol of what the founders wished it to be, the village was centered on a peaceful public square with a modest Hindu temple facing the tomb of a Muslim holy man. It was hoped that the town would be a place where Hindu and Muslim could live harmoniously. Its name was Ram Rahim Nagar. Nagar means town. Ram is the Hindu name for God. Rahim is an Arabic term most often translated as “The Compassionate.”

On February 28th of 2002 word began to spread that riots had broken out in the city. Terrible things were happening everywhere and word had it that the police had been given instructions by the local head of state that they were not to interfere. Women were being raped, then burned alive to dispose of the evidence. Everyone in the tiny village was terrified, but they knew what they had to do. Three gates led into the village. Hindu and Muslim standing shoulder to shoulder, armed only with sticks took up their posts at those gates. The seething mobs poured out of the mighty city and descended upon them. The young men stood their ground. They defended their town. They were not moved.

Not long ago, my friend Matt Bockelman and I spent an extremely hectic week in Ram Rahim Nagar, speaking with the local leaders, interviewing teachers, attending religious gatherings, and in general getting to know the place – trying to learn what makes it so different. We shot around fifteen hours of film which Matt will try to edit down to twenty minutes. We hope to get the necessary funding to go back and shoot a full length documentary.