So Far from India (1983) & El Otro Lado (1978)
As part of MoMA’s film series Immigrant Nation: People in Transit, this special screening pairs two landmark documentaries examining migration, labor, and the search for opportunity across borders.
The evening begins with So Far from India (1983), an early documentary by acclaimed filmmaker Mira Nair. Before directing celebrated narrative features such as Monsoon Wedding, The Namesake, and Salaam Bombay!, Nair built her reputation through intimate nonfiction films exploring identity, culture, and social issues. In So Far from India, she follows an Indian immigrant who sells newspapers in New York City’s subway system and returns briefly to Ahmedabad to visit his wife, young child, and extended family. The film offers a poignant portrait of the emotional costs of migration and the difficult choices faced by those pursuing economic opportunity abroad.
The program is paired with El Otro Lado (The Other Side, 1978), directed by Danny Lyon. Combining documentary and reenactment, the film chronicles the experiences of undocumented Mexican farmworkers crossing the border into Arizona’s agricultural regions. Lyon’s work provides a powerful look at the challenges, risks, and resilience of migrant workers seeking a better life in the United States.
Together, these two films offer deeply human perspectives on immigration, displacement, family separation, and belonging—issues that remain as relevant today as when the films were first made.
Film Information:
So Far from India
Director: Mira Nair
Year: 1983
Country: USA
Runtime: 52 minutes
Format: 16mm
El Otro Lado
Director: Danny Lyon
Year: 1978
Country: USA
Runtime: 59 minutes
Format: 16mm
Language: Spanish with English subtitles
Why Attend:
See an early documentary by renowned filmmaker Mira Nair.
Experience two rarely screened works examining immigration from South Asian and Latin American perspectives.
Attend a screening introduced by Mira Nair herself.
Part of MoMA’s Immigrant Nation: People in Transit series exploring migration through cinema.
