Child of Empire
India/Pakistan | United Kingdom | 2022 | 18min | VR Docufiction | ColourWriter
Child of Empire is an animated virtual reality (VR) docu-drama experience which immerses viewers in one of the largest forced migrations in human history: the 1947 Partition of India and Pakistan.
The film premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival as part of the New Frontier program, and opened to glowing reviews in The Economist and The Hindu.
The film takes audiences through a deeply personal perspective of this epic historical event. Two men from the Partition generation — Ishar Das Arora (voiced by Adil Hussain), an Indian Hindu who migrated from Pakistan to India, and Iqbal-ud-din Ahmed (voiced by Salman Shahid), a Pakistani Muslim who made the opposite journey — share childhood memories of their experiences while playing a board game. As the two men unpack their memories, audiences embody the experience of a 7-year-old child at key points in the migration. Child of Empire offers a powerful counter-narrative that lends a fresh perspective on the effects of forced migration on everyday individuals.
Produced in collaboration with The CatchLight Foundation, CreativeXR, and BFI/Doc Society.
Watch trailer on Youtube
CreatorsSparsh Ahuja
Erfan Saadati
WriterOmi Zola Gupta
Art DirectorStephen Stephenson
ProducersSparsh Ahuja
Erfan Saadati
Sam Dalrymple
Saadia Gardezi
ComposersVasundhara Gupta
Amira Gill
StarringAdil Hussain as Ishar
Salman Shahid as Iqbal
Official Selection
Sundance Film Festival (World Premiere)Sheffield International DocFest
Melbourne International Film Festival
New Images Festival
Aesthetica Short Film Festival
Atlanta Film Festival
Resonate Festival
Venice Film Festival: Production Bridge
Screened at
British Film Institute, UKForum Des Images, France
Victoria and Albert Museum, UK
Partition Museum, India
San Francisco Asian Art Museum, USA
Arnolfini Museum, UK
SOAS, UK
Birmingham Museum, UK
Derby Museum, UK
Awards
WinnerXR History Award
Press
The HinduFlashback 75: Partition in virtual reality in Child of Empire
No Proscenium
Review: Child of Empire, Sundance New Frontier Diares
TechvangArt
Review: Child of Empire/“God was a little late that day” - TechvangArt
The New Indian Express
Revisiting Partition in a virtual world
The Economist
A virtual-reality film revisits the partition of British India
The BBC
Derby Museum exhibition to explore legacy of Partition - BBC News