An Evening of Film and the Power of Storytelling

Film Screening & Conversation: The Bengali
Part of the #UnderOurSun Impact Campaign

RSVP Link: https://forms.gle/LKw1uFY6jUvQcP9H6

Join for an evening of film, conversation, and community at Turkevi Center (Turkish House) to explore the stories you inherit, the identities you carry, and the unexpected connections that shape the world.

In The Bengali, named one of Nonfics’ Top 20 Documentaries, director Kavery Kaul takes an American woman to India to uncover her grandfather Shaik Mohamed Musa’s past. He was one of the early group of men who arrived in the late nineteenth century and married African American women. Her unlikely quest triggers a boldly different encounter between East and West. A personal search becomes a deeper journey into culture, memory, and identity, breaking barriers and building bridges, revealing how histories travel, and families form across unexpected places.

The Bengali has inspired the @Under.Our.Sun impact campaign, a digital storytelling movement that invites everyone to share their own cultural heritage and lived experience. Through in-person screenings, lively panel discussions, and digital storytelling, the campaign sparks timely conversation about migration and belonging.

The Alliance of Women Film Journalists calls The Bengali “a lyrical and poetic documentary that shows how stories and presumptions can change, forging connections that are rich and real — not just to the past, but to the world at large.”

Program
5:30 PM — Reception
6:00 PM — Film Screening
7:15 PM — Conversation & Audience Q&A

Featuring
Kavery Kaul, Director, The Bengali
Gordon Tapper, President, Give Them a Hand Foundation, Former Section Chief, United Nations
Moderated by Bedatri D. Choudhury, Arts Editor, Philadelphia Inquirer and Programmer, DOC NYC

Many thanks to hosts at Turkish House and co-sponsors NEYAD and Give Them a Hand Foundation