Land of My Dreams (2023)

Cinematography, Direction, Editing, Writing and Narration: Nausheen Khan
Music: Kush Asher
Voice-over Recording and Sound Post-production: Lohit Bhalla (Depot Records)
Titles: Srishti Saxena
Colourist: Divya Kehr

In 2019, the Indian government enacted the Citizenship Amendment Act, which overtly discriminates against Muslims. Viewing this as discriminatory, intergenerational, multifaith women gathered in Shaheen Bagh, a Muslim neighborhood in Delhi, to form a non-violent sit-in that grew into a nationwide movement.

Land of My Dreams follows the stories of these women who sustained a peaceful pro-democracy movement for over a hundred days, galvanizing resistance across the country. The film recounts how they weathered institutionalized and societal repression to redefine nationalism and provide a precedent for a new form of public dissent in modern India.

Drawing on her identity as a Muslim woman, the filmmaker questions contemporary notions of belonging, patriotism, and identity by examining shared human responses to exclusion, polarization, and repression.