Tomorrow We Disappear Film Analysis

Three artists represent nearly 3,000 individuals from the New Delhi colony, Kathputli, in Jimmy Goldblum and Adam Weber’s documentary Tomorrow We Disappear, which premiered at the Tribeca and Hot Docs International Documentary Festivals in 2014. Over the course of three years and through the three protagonists featured, viewers are shown what it’s like living in a poor, yet beloved community fabricated from these artists' very time and hands that is soon to be destroyed when the government sells the land to wealthy developers. As the eviction approaches we are witnesses to the manipulations of powerful intuitions, the struggles that parallel with unconventional and unsupported career paths, but mostly, we see what this community and their art provides—a rarity that remains true and constant throughout: beauty, love, and dedication. “If something is precious, you shouldn’t let it die,” says protagonist and street magician Rahman Shah in

Maya is the only artist represented among the slum that is not angry, but rather curious as to what prospects this will open for her art, as well as the colony’s credibility and representation. But whatever the state of mind may be among the three there seems to be one commonality. They are trying to do the very thing Rahman spoke of: nurture their precious God given gifts and enable them to expand. Except it’s during these meetings, arguments and conversations where we feel the absence of what the film so beautifully opened with. Instead of the slow motion sequence that forced us to watch the art unfold in a new and appreciated way with images of dancing puppets, tight rope performances and acrobats picking needles up with their eyes, we now see the distressed artists sitting in apprehension, waiting to what role their art will play, if any at