In this intimate and poetic gem, Shirley Abraham and Amit Madheshiya capture the miracle of cinema in its purest sense, and the timelessness of a tradition that has< existed in India for decades – the traveling tent cinema. There’s not a moment that feels forced, resulting in both immersion and authenticity at every stage of the film.
The film focuses on the nomadic projectionists and technicians who roam the rural Indian countryside delivering the magic of film, and tending to the equipment as if it were an ailing relative. It’s a disappearing trade, however, with the influx of digital technology and an audience ever more reliant on the small screen.
Five years in the making, the film debuted at the Cannes Film Festival to critical acclaim, and should entice cinephiles with its effusive love of 20th-century celluloid splendor.