Valley of Saints

Sundance Audience Award-winner from India, set in Kashmir and shot during the 2010 military curfew.Gulzar is a young, working-class boatman who wishes to leave the now-corrupted beauty of his city. When he and his friend happen upon a young woman, Gulzar has to choose between a new life or a new love.

"Widely considered to be the crown jewel of Kashmir, Dal Lake is a sprawling aquatic community where erupting political violence often distracts from the natural beauty. Gulzar plans to skip town with his best friend in search of a better life, but a weeklong military curfew derails their departure. Forced to wait it out, Gulzar takes a job assisting a pretty scientist named Asifa. As they navigate the floating landscape, collecting water samples for an environmental study, an unlikely relationship blossoms between the two. When Asifa’s research reveals harmful pollutants, Gulzar realises that the ecology of the lake and an entire way of life face an alarming threat, and everything in his own life begins to take on a new hue." (Sundance Film Festival)

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