As our world strains under the weight of unprecedented global migration and colonial extraction, this animated virtual reality documentary immerses participants in one of the largest forced migrations in human history: the 1947 Partition of India and Pakistan.
Child of Empire takes audiences through a deeply personal perspective of this epic historical event. Two men from the Partition generation — Ishar Das Arora, an Indian Hindu who migrated from Pakistan to India, and Iqbal-ud-din Ahmed, a Pakistani Muslim who made the opposite journey — share childhood memories of their experiences while playing a board game. As the two men unpack their memories, audiences embody the experience of a 7-year-old child at key points in the migration. Child of Empire offers a powerful counternarrative that lends a fresh perspective on the effects of forced migration on everyday individuals.