In 1935, celebrated writer Jyotiprasad Agarwala directed the first Assamese film: Joymoti – a milestone in Indian cinema. Joymoti had a troubled legacy, the film vanished around the time of India's independence, to resurface only partly in the early 70s, with more reels reappearing over time.
The film is an observational telling of a watchman in an apartment complex in Guwahati, Assam, India. It blends documentary to explore his alienation and raise the question of empathy vis-a-vis his occupation: its existence beyond what may be referred to as a linear time or the time occupied by the...