Photographs

Andrés Di Tella is the son of an Argentine father and an Indian mother. To his family, who lived in London and Argentina, his mom’s nationality was a non-issue. Now that she’s no longer alive and Di Tella has a son himself, he’s astonished that he previously showed no interest at all in his mother’s home country - although the racism that he experienced as a child explains a great deal. Starting in Argentina and ending in India, in meetings with his mother’s friends and relatives and in conversations with his father, Di Tella tries to get closer to this neglected aspect of his family history. What was it like for his mother to leave behind her family and everything she knew? And what does India, unknown and unloved, actually mean to him after all these years? This thoughtful, associative film circles these and other personal questions, doing justice to the complexities and subtleties of themes such as migration and cultural identity. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)