One More Amazement

Tuesday, November 26, 2024, 7:00 pm, 35F (2C) Partly cloudy
 
Bharat Trivedi, in his recent comment, said, “KC, every time you share something with us, you amaze us!” 
 
Well, here is one more Amazement…

When I first started to write about My Journey with Sumi in 2015, I had three objectives:
  1. Increase awareness of Alzheimer’s
  2. Reduce the stigma and the taboos associated with Alzheimer’s
  3. Be an advocate. Give a voice to other caregivers. Help them find solace and comfort
I still have these three objectives, but recently, I realized my work could be more helpful in India, where awareness of dementia is lacking. There, some 90% of persons with dementia do not get a formal diagnosis.
 
I thought the best way to increase awareness of dementia in India would be to reach the masses through the Hindi language, as it is widely spoken there. Translating my book in Hindi came to my mind, but I realized that the masses in India do not use print media. They use their phones to stream news and entertainment and to get other information. In August 2024, I came across Junaid Imam, a filmmaker in Pune.
 
Junaid and I decided that the best way to reach the masses in India would be through digital media. First, we retained a voice actor to add voice to the Hindi script of the first two chapters of the book. Then, we decided to add the soundtrack. After that, Junaid and his team wanted to embed a few homemade photos and videos into the audio file. I sent them photos and videos from my archives. After sending them additional photos and video, it started to take shape in a film . Thus, in an organic process, what happened was, a birthing of a film – a Hindi documentary.
 
To gauge the viability and acceptance of this project, we added English subtitles and decided to enter the Hindi documentary in a few International Film Festivals under the banner of Harmony Film Production (my new company). We also made the same documentary in English with English subtitles.
 
I am pleased to share that the documentary has won a few laurels Internationally and in India.
  1. Rome, Italy, International Movie Awards - the best short documentary film
  2. Cannes, France, winner of Best Health Film at the World Film Festival
  3. Kolkata, India, the Best Producer Award
  4. Chennai, India, Best Cinematography Award, Athvikvaruni International Film Festival
  5. Canton, Michigan, Selected at the Direct Monthly Online Film Festival
  6. We are still in the running for other awards

Please click on the link below to watch the English trailer of the documentary on YouTube.
 
Documentary Trailer - My Journey with Sumi
 
The next amazement, 20-minute documentaries in Hindi and English each, will be unveiled on Thanksgiving Day!