Title of film : Documentary on Chandannagar Jagadhatri Puja
Cast & crew :
Producer : JOLIMAGE
Editor : Na
Cast :
Synopsis : Late November in India is Diwali, the festival of lights ; candles are lit everywhere, firecrackers go off all night. After that…there's complete silence...Except in Chandernagore, West Bengal. What distinguishes this former French trading post from other Indian cities is a second festival of lights, much more grandiose, which is spread over five days, as if to set the tone for Christmas and the New Year. JAGADDHATRI, the Beloved Goddess recounts the advent of a goddess in a body of mud and straw shaped by local artists. Jagaddhatri means "the Holder of the Universe". Since the 18th century the tale is told that She descends on Earth for five days and five nights among men before returning to heaven via the sacred Ganges until the following year. This film is not intended to promote a belief, nor to denigrate as archaic a 250-year-old religious event. What no one will deny, however, is that this practice, far from decreasing with the progress of modernity, endures, more alive than ever.
