Drawing inspiration from Frederick Wiseman’s classic aesthetic, Nepalese-Tibetan filmmaker Kesang Tseten spends a year observing the community and culture of Himalayan immigrants in and around the Jackson Heights neighborhood of Queens, New York. Filmed in the buildup to the 2020 U.S. Census and during moments of the Covid-19 pandemic, Himalayan New Yorkers share their lived experiences through carefully captured verite footage, producing a rich portrait of people deeply connected to homeland traditions while adjusting to diasporic life.

Post-film discussion with Professor Sienna Craig (Dept. of Anthropology), who co-produced the film, and Assistant Professor Smriti Upadhyay (Dept. of Sociology).

Filmmaker Bio: Kesang Tseten is a filmmaker of international renown whose award-winning documentaries have focused on the lives of Nepali and Tibetan communities in and beyond South Asia, often providing rare insight into significant though little-known migrant realities as well as about the impacts of disaster, development, and social change on Himalayan lives.

Free and open to the public. Sponsored by the Department of Asian Societies, Cultures, & Languages, South House, and the Bodas Family South Asia Programming Fund at Dartmouth College.