is proud to co-present the screening Babaji, an Indian Love Story, at the 33rd Annual Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival, November 12-15! All screenings are held at the American Museum of Natural History.

Babaji, an Indian Love Story
Jiska Rickels • 2008 • 72 min • India, The Netherlands U.S. Premiere

Baba Basant Rai buried his wife nine years ago, and yet still grieves. Prescribing and preparing traditional remedies, Babaji, as he is affectionately called, attends to the community outside Hazaribagh, in Jharkhand, India, curing fevers and stomach ailments as well as exorcising the malevolent ghosts that walk among them. As knowledgeable and accomplished as he is in using the natural world to help the sick, Babaji was unable to save his beloved wife. Digging a grave next to hers, he lies down in it and waits for death. Meanwhile, the people of the town depend on Babaji, who is rumored to be more than 100 years old. They marvel at his eccentricity and longevity, regarding him as a “star” and their road to possible notoriety. A portrait of one man’s sorrow, the film is also a window into traditional Hindi culture, its beauty and limitations, and how it struggles to accommodate, and resist, modernity.

Saturday, November 14
6:30 pm, Program F18
Filmmaker in person

For all Mead programs enter at 77th Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue

To Order Tickets:
By Phone: 212-769-5200
Online: www.amnh.org/mead
On-site: During Museum hours at the Advance Group Sales desk in the Theodore Roosevelt Rotunda (Central Park West at 79th Street entrance), and at the Rose Center for Earth and Space (81st Street entrance).
  
Mention to receive Member price of $10!   

To view the festival’s full schedule please visit www.amnh.org/mead.


The 2009 Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival, the longest running showcase for international documentaries in the United States, celebrates 33 years!