Villanova students' India documentary premieres Saturday
Ten Villanova University students, their bags packed with cameras and video equipment, traveled across the world to a village in rural India last fall.
Ten Villanova University students, their bags packed with cameras and video equipment, traveled across the world to a village in rural India last fall.
They spent two weeks meeting the people of Prashanthagiri and following program managers for Profugo, an Ardmore-based nonprofit that works to support residents in the village.
The result: A documentary film called Before We Sleep.
"It's based on a small community in India, and we're shedding light on the social injustices of poverty, alcoholism, abuse, traditional gender roles there," said Danielle Cordisco, a senior at Villanova and a student in the social justice documentary class.
The documentary will premiere at the Kimmel Center on Saturday.
The film focuses on residents of the village and Profugo's work there, Cordisco said, such as building wells for clean water and teaching women to run a tailoring cooperative.
The most valuable part of the trip, though not captured on camera, was the time spent drinking tea with residents after their interviews, Cordisco said.
"These people have to work so hard to even make tea, to be able to afford tea," she said, ". . . and every family made us tea."