Tomorrow We Disappear

I wish I could stop the world for a moment. - Puran Bhat, puppeteer

Puran the Puppeteer, Rahman the Magician, and Maya the Acrobat are just three of the talented residents of India's Kathputli Colony of street performers who, for more than sixty years, have built their tiny, patched shacks and workshops and a vital, tight-knit community in the alleyways of western Delhi. The colorful, clamorous Rajasthani slum, celebrated in Salman Rushdie's novel Midnight's Children, was home to 3,000 practitioners of India's ancient folk arts – snake charmers, fire eaters, contortionists, musicians, and circus performers – and their families whose children were tutored at the earliest ages to carry on their traditions.

In 2010, the Indian government sold the land to developers with plans to erect Delhi's tallest skyscraper and a luxury mall, and soon after, relocation permits were issued. Tomorrow We Disappear takes us through the dramatic last days of the community, following the artists' fight to protect their homes from devastation and the possible end of their vibrant way of life.

Join New America NYC for a screening of Tomorrow We Disappear and a post-screening discussion with the filmmakers on the years they spent getting to know the artists of the Kathputli colony and on the loss of culture and tradition, all over the world, that modernization and gentrification bring about.

Follow the discussion online using #NANYC and by following @NewAmericaNYC. Tomorrow We Disappear will be released digitally on iTunes, VOD, and through their website, twdfilm.com.

Introductions:

Beth Dembitzer
Curator, Social Cinema@New America

@bethdembitzer

Aroon Shivdasani
Executive & Artistic Director, Indo-American Arts Council
@aroonshiv

Participants:

Jimmy Goldblum
Co-director and Producer, Tomorrow We Disappear

@jgoldy492

Adam Weber

Co-director and Producer, Tomorrow We Disappear

Fazeelat Aslam
Co-producer, Tomorrow We Disappear

@FazeelatAslam

Aseem Chhabra
Journalist and Festival Director, New York Indian Film Festival
@chhabs