JOHN AND JANE
dir. Ashim Ahluwalia, 2005
78 mins. India.
In English with English subtitles.
MONDAY, JANUARY 16 – 7:30 PM
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18 – 10 PM
FRIDAY, JANUARY 27 – 10 PM
JOHN AND JANE centers on the personal and professional lives of six telemarketers working in a Bombay call center. Tasked with cajoling American customers into buying things, the workers single-mindedly chase the American dream in neoliberal India. Darkly comic and deeply unnerving, the refreshingly unconventional style of the documentary blurs the line between fact and fiction and provides a sobering look at the insidious effects of globalization on culture and identity in a highly unequal world.
“Call it George A. Romero’s Bollywood OFFICE SPACE… an enraged critique of Western excess that you can dance to.” –Slant Magazine