A Night of Knowing Nothing (2021) - Payal Kapadia

​A deeply enthralling document of social action and political oppression that deploys a distinct formal style, marrying the intimacy of personal evocation with the expansiveness of social documentation to deliver a poignant, stirring portrait of the struggle from oppression. A Night of Knowing Nothing is structurally distinctive in the way it examines social, political, and economic means of oppression, detailing through the plight of art students, who struggle with the fascistic evolution of India under Modi and the coercive hierarchical structures in place that ultimately make a truly harmonious way of living out of reach. Subjugation and division - both detailed through the intimate letters of L, an unknown university student who writes about her ruptured relationship at the hands of the caste system, and the more expansive social struggle for dignity and respect amongst all religions, castes, and creeds - A Night of Knowing Nothing deftly manages to be incredibly assured yet never polemic, imbued with a sense of longing that aches with pathos but also resolve, pleading for a world free of all forms of social oppression while recognizing the struggle inherent to such ambitions and the importance of collective action.