Director Judith MacDougall
Country/Production Australia
Release 2001
Length 55 mins
Format Colour / DVD or VHS / PAL / All region
Location India, Dehra Dun / Asia
Ethnic Group Indian
Order No RAI-200.323
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A diya is a small terra cotta oil lamp used throughout India in Hindu ceremonies. The film follows the life history of an object through the every day experience of people who make, sell and use it in the town of Dehra Dun, northern India. It begins with a family of potters as they make diyas in the increasingly frantic days before Diwali, the "Festival of Lights". The lamps are produced on a potter's wheel, are taken to be sold in the bazaar, and are then used in the Diwali puja ceremonies. Afterwards they are discarded and returned to the earth. This film attempts to provide a new way of exploring the complex social life surrounding material objects.
