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FILMING AMERICA
Valarie Kaur's Journey Into The Heart Of A Troubled Land
by HENNA SINGH
If you saw Valarie Kaur at the gurudwara or a function, you would probably think of her as just another young woman, barely out of school and poised to tackle the challenges of adulthood. Her youthful looks and smile betray nothing of what she has achieved in the mere 7 years or so that have transpired since she was a teen.
It turns out that Valarie is the filmmaker who traveled the length and breadth of America to record and try to fathom the senseless hate-crimes unleashed on American soil by 9/11, some of it inexplicably directed against Sikh-Americans. And created the award-winning film, Divided We Fall.
But who is Valarie Kaur and how did she end up making such a landmark film?
Valarie explains how, while growing up in California, she did not identify with Sikhs or anything related to her heritage. A third generation Sikh-American, Valarie's household was not a Punjabi-speaking one. Thus, when she went to her local gurudwara, she often felt out-of-sorts with the other members of the congregation.
Still, it was strong ties to her grandfather that kept her grounded in Sikhi throughout her life. Her grandfather, she remembers fondly, taught her the concept of "Nam Daan Ishnan" which, she explains, she took to mean that in order to realize God and yourself, you must act here and now. The motto took her a long way.
It wasn't just Valarie's non-Punjabi name that caused her growing pains when she was young. At school, the majority of her class-mates were Catholic and there was even a time that Valarie felt immense peer pressure to convert. Though she had not quite fully identified with being a Sikh yet, she also knew that she could not disappear into the woodwork by labelling herself a "non-Sikh". She nevertheless had somehow already been instilled with pride for her heritage and who she was.
In was through defending herself and Sikhi that Valarie embarked on a path to determine exactly what it entailed. She was on a quest and wanted to find out what exactly her inherited religion was all about. It was through this journey that Valarie learned that many of the values and beliefs she already had in fact stemmed from Sikh philosophy.
Sikhi, she discovered, taught that there were many paths to God, and no particular one was the "chosen one". Finding this out encouraged Valarie to be true to herself and maintain her own identity.
Curiously, Valarie's parents were supportive of her self-discovery without pushing her in any one direction. They encouraged her to be informed and above all make her own decisions. It was this parenting philosophy that has no doubt led to Valarie's amazing journey onwards, inwards and upwards. Valarie says: "My parents never told me what they wanted me to be in life. They never said that I had to be a doctor or lawyer. All they said was that I could be anyone I wanted to be!" Valarie's parents continued to encourage her to explore anything and everything, so when she announced one day that she wanted to make a film on 9/11, they were unequivocally supportive.
Valarie has always been interested in oral history. While she was doing her undergraduate degree at Stanford University, she decided to embark on a project that would tell the story of partition survivors in India.
And then 9/11 happened. It occurred to Valarie that the violence going on as a reaction to that event needed to be documented also. And so she decided to change the focus of her oral history project and the journey, literally and metaphorically, of the making of Divided We Fall began.
She was 20 years old.
It was an ambitious project, but Valarie did not think of it that way. She just knew that people telling their stories had to be captured on film and she was the one who was going to do it.
Of course, when raising money for the film, Valarie came up against the traditional resistance that meets every young kid with an idea. "You're too young!" "You are just a little girl!" was what she heard initially. Undaunted, Valarie maxed out her credit cards and took out student loans so that she could fund her project. Once she had some footage to help her gain credibility, the road was a little smoother.
She also ran into many people who spoke to her and came to believe in her and her project. They realized that there was a need for such a film, and when they gave, they gave generously. Slowly Valarie collected enough to finish the film. Her next challenge is to arrange for enough funds so that the film can be formatted into a DVD and packaged along with educational materials.
For the past five years, Valarie has traveled from coast to coast, either shooting material for the film, or actually showing the completed version at venues across the country. As her film tour winds to a close later this year, it is hard not to wonder what Valarie will get into next.
Is there another film in the works? The answer is "no" for the near future, because her plate is full. But later ...?
Having already completed a degree in Divinity Studies at Harvard University, Valarie has now been accepted to Yale Law School and in 2008 she will go on to become a student once more. When asked whether she is looking forward to it, Valarie says: "It will be nice to have a more normal life again, but life in the editing room is never over!"
[If you would like to make a contribution to Valarie Kaur's project, or to find out more about it, head over to http://www.dwf-film.com/. Those who make a $50 contribution or more are guaranteed a copy of the video once it is released on DVD some time next year.]