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Introduction
People from or with family connections to Azad Kashmir were interviewed about their experiences of Kashmir. Themes included links between individuals and communities, flows of wealth, experiences of rascism, experiences of sexism, nostalgia for a place you may have never visited but have a collective memory of from all of the stories retold to you by family members. Some of the participants were members of the LGBTQ+. AI tools were used to generate imagery from the recorded interview audio to anonymise all of the participants.

“Rootless Connections is an experiment, an exploration in utilising AI technology to explore connections within the Kashmiri community between Kashmir and the UK. This AI Documentary uses interviews from 4 people, 2 Kashmiri people who were either born or grew up in the UK and 2 Kashmiri people who have lived in Kashmir for a large part of their lives. The short film explores their connection with each other, and the privileges that they have as a result of their geographical location as well as connections to their culture and love of their soil.” Humira Imtiaz

I collaborated with Humira Imtiaz to develop AI prompts, record some of the interviews, use AI tools to transcribe and create paper edits of the audio, use AI tools to process audio and improve audio quality (some of the interviews were recorded using a mobile phone over Whats App and featured significant levels of background sound).

Collaborators
Humira Imtiaz, Writer, Producer, Digital Experimenter & Director for Theatre & Film

Univeristy of Kotli Azad Jammu and Kashmir

Funding
This short film was made possible with the funding from
UK-PK New Perspectives, Re-imagining Freedom Project with UK Asian Film Festival (UKAFF) in 2023.

Screenings
UK-PK New Perspectives,
Re-imagining Freedom with UK Asian Film Festival,
Karachi University, Pakistan,

UK Asian Film Festival at Rich Mix, London, UK