Auroville's Children - Documentary

A man quits his job as a consultant and teaches school kids how to recycle waste.

A woman leaves behind her well-organized and sophisticated life in Paris to take care of neglected racehorses in India.

A man decides against a well-paid job in Switzerland, because he finds his passion in the search for the perfect surfboard.

These are the stories of Ribhu, Divya and Nico. Three young adults, born and raised in Auroville, a utopian city in the southeast of India, where people try to live without politics, religion and money.

The parents of Divya, Ribhu and Nico came to Auroville out of idealistic reasons. For them the place always was a huge, adventurous playground. After school, they left Auroville and lived in Europe for quite a few years. Now they’re back.

But their decision of leaving the prosperity of the “western world“ behind has consequences: Living conditions in India are hard, the climate is tropically hot, there is neither unemployment nor pension fund, no specific job perspective and the next hospital is one hour away.

What makes Auroville so special then, that the returnees would shoulder all these stresses and strains? What reasons do they have to live in Auroville? Is life there still as utopian as it was during their childhood?

A film about the courage it takes to swim against the current. A story about search and home - and the dream of a better world.

We want to tell the stories of Divya, Ribhu and Nico in an authentic, close and soulful way. We would like to create a film that makes you think and long for: a life without pressure to perform, the possibility to try out something completely new and the feeling of not being dependent on financial constraints or social expectations.

Our film addresses dreamers, do-gooders, searchers, hippies, fans of India, travellers, fighters, doubters, critics, lovers of visual aesthetics, students, moms, dads, grand moms, grand dads, horse lovers, surfers, teachers, motorcyclists… and all others who fancy documentary films which are produced independently and with love and commitment!

1. Because you want to know how the story of Divya, Ribhu and Nico continues.

2. Because we could make you curious about Auroville: How on earth does it work, a city without politics, religion and money?

3. Because secretly, you are dreaming of quitting your job as a tax accountant to travel around the world with a mobile home or work as a self-supporter on an ecological farm.

4. Because you’re suffering from wanderlust.

5. Because you’re in love with India.

6. Because you appreciate independently produced documentaries of high quality.

7. Because you want to support two young, enthusiastic filmmakers, who: worked on scripts and exposés days and nights, worried about visas and filming permits just shortly until the shooting started, dissolved all their saving accounts to finance the film and, finally: drove their camera equipment weighing 20 kilos through the Indian jungle on a rusty motorbike for five weeks, to be able to immerge into the life of the protagonists and to capture the nicest pictures of Auroville.

We have paid the travel costs, filming permits, journalist visas, technique and the shooting entirely by ourselves. For the postproduction and the publishing of our “baby” we need your support! With your donations, we will finance the editing, the sound, the colour corrections and the film music; the printing of flyers, posters and the burning of DVDs. On top, we will use the money for renting cinemas and pay the fees of film festivals so that we can show the film to a broader audience. Our workforce is not included in the donations!