STORY
Amidst a time of a pandemic and the upsurge of social justice movements, people continue to fight for decolonization worldwide. People experience moments of fear, anger, and loneliness, but we also create space for healing, resilience and empowerment. We connect with our ancestors through ancient wisdom and we redefine who we are and who we can be in this world today.
Four artists of Surinamese Hindustani descent are featured in this film: dancer and performance artist Fazle Shairmahomed, theatermaker/performer and filmmaker Taskien Khudabux, henna artist and dancer Anima Jhagroe-Ruissen and poet and rapper Rubaina Bhikhie.
In Umad (in Hindi उमड़: emotional overflow), we witness how these four artists of Surinamese-Hindustani descent find themselves at several locations in The Hague that they transform into stages of expression. All of them have been touched by the Dutch colonial project, but are shaped differently through their respective experiences and realities in life, which also brings in the Caribbean, Surinam, mixed identities of Hindu and Muslim, mixed race of Dutch and Hindustani, multicultural and queer realities.
They negotiate with histories of forced labor migration and colonialism, the erasure of cultures they belong to, cultures they have come to belong to, and the oppressive systems which continue to exist today.
