Saturday, November 14: 6:30 pm

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 Indian culture, its beauty and limitations, and how it struggles to accommodate, and resist, modernity.

This film is part of the Along the Modern Silk Road Series