Freak Street: The Migratory Patterns of Hippies on the Subcontinent

John T. Caldwell

About the film

Documentarians John Caldwell and John L. Pudaite flip the script on immigration discourse as part of this illuminating look at migrants from Europe and America who relocated to South Asia during the heyday of the hippie counterculture. Artists, writers, musicians and others seeking alternative lifestyles in the 1960s and 1970s, they left their homes for Nepal, Afghanistan and India where many struggled with their new status as outsiders and “illegal aliens.” While some returned and some lost their way to drugs and other pitfalls, Caldwell and Pudaite profile those who hung on and integrated into the local communities. Their ongoing struggle with questions of identity, authenticity and legality help reveal the constructedness of the terms and imagery that continue to frame the immigration debate in America today.

 

Additional Info

Additional Filmmaker(s):

John Lalnunsang Pudaite

Language(s):

English, Newari

Subtitle(s):

English

Production Credit:

C. Thanthien Khobung, Agora Telefilm, Global Films, inc.

Format:

16mm, 2K

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