Sapna Moti Bhavnani's documentary Sindhustan will come full circle with an Asian premiere at the 21st Mumbai Film Festival by the Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image (MAMI) this year. The film began its journey at MAMI TalkDoc in 2018 before winning the best Docu Feature award at the New York Indian Film Festival earlier this year.
The film is also part of the official selection at the upcoming Chicago South Asian Film Festival.
Excited about Sindhustan’s Asia premiere at the Mumbai Film Festival, Bhavnani says, "My documentary started its journey with MAMI's TalkDoc in 2018. This gave a first-time filmmaker like me a chance to speak with the who's who of the international documentary world before embarking on my edit journey. Since my documentary is all about questioning home and the absence of roots, nothing gives me more joy than bringing it to sweet home Mumbai on a platform like MAMI. With a wonderful curation of films and an incredible audience and ambience there is nothing more a filmmaker needs. I am proud to have my Asia premiere here, at home.”
The film is a fascinating exploration of the Sindhi community’s migration to India narrated through a series of extensively designed body tattoos, all of which are illustrated on Sapna Moti Bhavnani's body. Bhavnani worked on the film for a period of seven years, following stories from the Sindhi community about the tattoo art forms of Ajrak and Madhubani.
The film is edited by Kabir Singh Chowdhry who had directed the MAMI 2018 Grand Jury award-winning mockumentary, Mehsampur.