White Crane Films

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The New Puritans: The Sikhs of Yuba City
(1985, 27 mins, video)

camera:  Tenzing Sonam and Ritu Sarin
narrated by:  Jeff Wagner
written by:  Tenzing Sonam and Jeff Wagner

edited, produced and directed by Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam

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The New Puritans was made over a period of three years when Ritu and Tenzing were students in the Bay Area. It was a learning experience in the craft of filmmaking as much as it was an exploration of the Punjabi Sikh community in the Yuba City area of Northern California. The film traces the history of this unique community — the largest rural concentration of Sikhs outside the Punjab — and focuses on the inevitable generational conflict between traditional value systems and customs and the increasing influence of American ideas and ways.

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"The best work on the subject to date ... Highly recommended."
National Educational Film Festival, Oakland, California

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Broadcasts:
National PBS (USA), 1988;
The Learning Channel (USA), 1989

Festivals and Screenings:
Whitney Museum, New York - "From India to America:
New Directions in Indian American Film and Video", 1994
Chicago International Film & Video Festival, 1986
Hawaii International Film & Video Festival, 1986
Asian-American Film Festival, New York, 1986
National Educational Film & Video Festival, Oakland, 1986
Best Documentary Award (Student Category)
Dore Schary Awards, New York, 1985, First Place