At Home But Not At Home

Born and raised in the United States, artist Suneil Sanzgiri has never visited India, his father’s country of origin. In this video he explores the emotional memories of his family’s diaspora: his father was 18 when, in 1961, the last remaining Portuguese colonizers in Goa were expelled. Using strategies typical of the desktop documentary, At Home But Not At Home combines a skilful montage of 16 mm footage, drone shots over Goa, film extracts from the Indian independent film movement Parallel cinema and a Skype interview with the artist’s father. Using various methods and modes of vision, the film is a reflection on the construction of memory and identity through moving images, and connects a biographical story to a broad postcolonial history that passes from India to Angola’s and Mozambique’s liberation movements.