Finding/Funding the Creative Self: Screening of “12 Days in a Taxi” (2012) (Virtual)
“12 Days in a Taxi”, a 2012 documentary by Ambarien Alqadar, tells the story of two South Asian immigrants who are aspiring filmmakers working as taxi drivers. They share the realities of finding and building community in post-9/11 New York as well as their creative processes, dreams, and challenges.
This first event will invite our audiences to consider the ongoing realities of class, caste, and faith politics in the South Asian-American diaspora, particularly as it relates to realizing creative goals. It will be accompanied by a community discussion space after the screening.
About the Series
Subcontinent on the Hudson: South Asian Migrations and Musics in New York
South Asian immigration to New York has been documented since the 1800’s predating the independent countries that contemporary diasporas identify with. While grappling with international news, U.S. immigration policy, and the shared struggles of gentrification, wealth inequality, and xenophobia, it is not uncommon to see our communities struggling with their adherence to the twinned allures of capitalism and white supremacy, propagating casteism, classism, and ethnonationalism across continents.
It is important now more than ever to also recognize where South Asian-Americans across generations have built interlinked and unique communities through their languages, food, and art. Rooted in folk, classical, and fusion traditions, music is a site of ongoing self-expression, negotiation, innovation, and community-building.
In the face of global capitalism and ethnonationalism fracturing the South Asian-American diaspora, Brooklyn Raga Massive in partnership with DRUM (Desis Rising Up and Moving) has curated “Subcontinent on the Hudson: South Asian Migrations and Musics in New York.” In four events, we pay homage to the variety of South Asian creative experiences in New York by foregrounding the diversity of traditions and inspirations informing our art. Above all, this series seeks to heal, unite, and contribute to the continued mobilization of diasporic communities that make their home here: we call on our audiences to be inspired – as we are – by the history, diversity, and imaginations of South Asian American communities in our home.