"This documentary explores one of the most cherished of Hindu religious aspirations: to die in the city of Varanasi, on the banks of the sacred Ganges, in the faith that dying here assures liberation from the cycle of earthly life."
"In the city of Kashi [in the location of modern-day Varanasi] the power of Ganga, the Hindu mother-goddess of the Ganges River, is strongest. Each dawn she calls her children to the ghats, the steps leading down to the water's edge. The young and strong purify themselves in Ganga's polluted waves. The old and the infirm, too weak for rituals, wait for death. In time, Ganga carries their souls, released from the bondage of reincarnation, to heaven. Their bodies, as ash afloat her crests or flesh submerged in her depths, return to the river. Once privy only to the dead and those who mourned them, the final journey of the devout Hindu is the subject of Gayle Ferraro's latest film, 'GANGES: River to Heaven.'”
"Filmed in a hospice for the dying and on the ghats of Kashi, India's religious heart, 'GANGES' follows four families' struggle to grant a loved one's final wish: to go to heaven. In their common quest the families become a fraction of the hordes of Hindus drawn to Kashi's holy promise of freedom from reincarnation. As the clans prepare for death, the citizens of Kashi manage life—praying for health, dumping industrial waste, begging for pocket change, bathing their children, selling to tourists, monitoring fecal chloroform levels, cremating their mothers-—all along the banks of the Ganges River. The families' preparations go virtually unnoticed on the river, where death is a daily part of life."
"GANGES: River to Heaven investigates the inextricable bond between a river and its people with unparalleled intimacy and depth. From the ghat workers gathering wood for the next cremation, to the chemists gathering water samples for contamination testing, each perspective sheds new light on India's evolving society and its unchanging veneration of the Ganges. The documentary of a sacred river, polluted from years of overuse, 'GANGES' wonders if the natural force strong enough to sculpt the peaks of the Himalayas and the beliefs of a nation will survive the adoration of generations to come."
Awards
- "Best Documentary" Award, Reel Women Intl. Film Festival
- Association for Asian Studies honoree
- Margaret Mead Film Festival honoree
- "Special Jury Award," Ft. Lauderdale Intl. Film Festival
- Bangkok Intl. Film Festival honoree
- Zanzibar Intl. Film Festival honoree
- River to River Intl. Film Festival (Florence, Italy) honoree
- Selected for screening at more than a dozen major film festivals worldwide
- Ganges: The holy men fasting to death keep a river alive -- BBCNews (08 December 2018)
- India to 'divert rivers' to tackle drought -- BBCNews (16 May 2016)
- 'Death photographers' of India's holy city -- BBC News (15 May 2016)
- India's dying mother -- BBCNews (12 May 2016)
["The Ganges has existed at the heart of Indian culture for millennia. Long considered the mother of the subcontinent, it gave rise to one of the greatest early civilizations, with vast hubs of learning and culture that rivaled contemporary equivalents in China, Egypt, and Greece. But India's great river is in crisis, severely polluted by the 450 million people that live in its catchment area, and by the unfiltered human and manufacturing waste that runs daily into its waters. This in-depth portrait by the BBC's Justin Rowlatt uses images, video, audio, and narrative text to examine the current state of the Ganges, from its origins in the Himalayas to the leather factories of Kanpur to the burning ghats of Varanasi. Along the way, readers will enter the cities and farms through vivid photography and hear the stories of the people who make the banks of the River Ganges their home."][CNH--The Scout Report, June 3, 2016,
Volume 22, Number 21]
- India Set for Hindu Kumbh Mela Festival -- BBC News (13 January 2013)
- Thousands of pilgrims prepare for India's Kumbh Mela -- BBC News (13 January 2013)
- The magic of India's Kumbh Mela -- BBC News (13 January 2013)
- The world is running out of burial space -- BBC News (13 March 2013)
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