Sparsh Ahuja is an award-winning filmmaker, journalist and National Geographic Explorer based in Melbourne.
His work has exhibited in venues such as The Smithsonian, Victoria & Albert and Asian Art Museums, and featured at Sundance Film Festival, SXSW, MUBI, The New Yorker, TIME, The BBC and Al Jazeera amongst others.
Rest in Paper - Animated Short [Producer]
Lost Migrations is a three-part animated series which tells the untold stories of the Partition through the voices of the colonised. Most of the literature and cultural exploration of Partition has focused on the division of the province of Punjab by British authorities in 1947. This project aims to showcase the diverse voices of the subcontinent in an engaging way, combining local artistic styles and traditions that celebrate the individuality of each community.
Based on the true story of Ghulam Ali, Rest in Paper satirises the bureaucratic nightmare created by migration, where the burden of proof is on the destitute migrant. Ghulam Ali is an Indian citizen who found himself stateless in 1947. Lacking the correct paperwork, he gets caught in a chain of arrests and deportation, crossing the border many times and eventually loses his sense of belonging and identity.
The film eschews the traditional sepia-drenched tones of Partition stories. Instead, it shows a vibrant landscape in sharp contrast to the physical and emotional violence of forced migration. The short draws upon Vazira Fazila-Yacoobali Zamindar’s The Long Partition, Saadat Hasan Manto’s “Toba Tek Singh”, and Franz Kafka's The Trial.
Funded by British Council and National Geographic Society
World Premiere - BFI Southbank
STREAMING on MUBI and NOWNESS ASIA
Produced by Project Dastaan & Puffball Studios, Directed by Haseeb ur Rehman
Lost Migrations produced in collaboration with Puffball Studios and Spitting Image Bangalore.