The film poses the universal question—must we betray our family to grow up? The filmmaker’s Indian father gives her a letter, which he left unopened for 20 years. She pieces together her father’s history of trauma and renewal—of family violence, boyhood in a right-wing paramilitary group, Muslim-Hindu violence during Partition, and family banishment for marrying a Danish woman. Told through personal narrative, reimagined history, and chronicles of racial nationalism, the film reveals the rich and complex interior lives of boys fighting to become men.

The short film WHAT REMAINS plays before TERRIBLE CHILDREN.

DIRECTOR/WRITER/EDITOR: Shanti Thakur

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Benjamin Wolf

SOUND DESIGN/MUSIC: Quentin Chiappetta

CAST: Ravi Guru Singh, Sini Mattila

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Mark Lipson

PRODUCER: Shanti Thakur

LENGTH: 57 min

LANGUAGES: English

COUNTRY: US/India/Canada

GENRE: Documentary | Biography

WHAT REMAINS

Over a series of photographs, Georgette Quan tells the story of her family's shrimping business, from the age of the Chinese Exclusion Act, to its present day status as a state park.

Director: Ginger Yifan Chen