Repping best view to date into the world of the Indian eunuch, “Between the Lines: India’s Third Gender” may not answer all the questions it poses, but helmer Thomas Wartmann provides an intimate glimpse at a community whose members are considered pariahs and conduits of supernatural force. Following shutterbug Anita Khemka in her quest to discover why these castrated men fascinate and repel, docu concentrates on three personalities and uses them as guides to their highly stratified world. Under its nautch skirts, film has strong enough legs to step out into international arthouses.
Direction
Wartmann's patience lets trust build before the camera.
Cinematography
Khemka's lens finds dignity in margins others exploit.
Director
Thomas Wartmann
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Hijras trace lineage to Mughal court eunuchs, yet British colonial law criminalized them as 'unnatural'—a stigma India's 2014 third-gender ruling only partially unraveled.
Anita Khemka's photographs from this shoot became a separate acclaimed exhibition, meaning the 'documentary subject' arguably made the more lasting art.
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