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RAI FILM Festival takes place on 27-30 March 2025. Learn more.

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Drugs & Prayers

Directed by Helene Basu

2009 – 55'

Synopsis

The Sufi shrine of Mira Datar in North Gujarat is a large pilgrimage centre specialising in healing possession and mental illness. It has become a site of experimenting with new forms of community care in the mental health sector. The film documents exchanges between various actors at the shrine and listens to the stories of the protagonists. It presents different views on the presumed causes of mental illness as well as on the benefit or non-benefit of medicine or ritual practices as perceived by patients and their relatives.

RAI FILM Festival 2025

The next RAI FILM Festival will take place in person from 27-30 March 2025 at the Watershed Cinema and the Arnolfini International Centre for Contemporary Arts in Bristol (UK) and online throughout the month of April 2025.