Introduction

On a warm but breezy night late this summer, In Search of Bengali Harlem (2022), a heartrending documentary about immigration, history lost and found, generation and community, was shown as part of the Rooftops Film summer program in Kensington Plaza, Brooklyn. The triangle-shaped space surrounded by South Asian grocers and restaurants had rows of folding chairs occupied by a diverse audience, but mostly South Asian people living in the area or coming from elsewhere. Co-director and main character Alaudin Ullah, district representative Shahana Hanif, and several other community leaders introduced and talked about the film before and after the screening. Their impassioned speeches and conversations with the audience about forgotten histories, ambivalent relationships between the homeland and the diaspora, and between different generations turned the outdoor screening into a platform of public education and community activism.