Sat Mar 08 19:43:34 UTC 2025: ## Filmmaker Recalls Impact of Jamia Violence on Award-Winning Film
**NEW DELHI, March 9, 2025** – Filmmaker Payal Kapadia has revealed the profound impact the 2020 Jamia Millia Islamia campus violence had on her award-winning film, “A Night of Knowing Nothing.” Speaking at a screening of the film at the India International Centre (IIC) as part of the Asian Women’s Film Festival, Kapadia stated that the overwhelming emotions surrounding the anti-CAA protests directly shaped the film’s narrative.
“When we saw the Jamia footage, we felt this overwhelming emotion. We tried to frame the film through that emotion,” said the 38-year-old director. The film, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival’s Directors’ Fortnight in 2021, depicts student protests at Indian university campuses.
Kapadia acknowledged the film’s potential to evoke difficult memories for Delhi residents, stating, “The people of Delhi would be familiar with what’s shown in the film. Sorry for reminding you… but it’s good not to forget.”
The filmmaker, known for blending fact and fiction in her work, described her films as a negotiation between “interpersonal relationships and the larger politics of our country.” This perspective is rooted in her own experiences, including leading a 139-day student protest at the Film and Television Institute of India in 2015 against the appointment of actor Gajendra Chauhan as chairman. Kapadia and 34 other students faced charges including unlawful assembly and rioting as a result of this protest.
First Piper 