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The untold story of legal US immigrant spouses who are denied the basic human right to work, revealed through the filmmaker's personal struggles
Hearts Suspended is a short autobiographical documentary that reveals how highly educated South Asian immigrant women struggle to survive in the United States on their H4 or dependent spouse visas, which deny them work authorization. Once independent, now completely dependent, they face loneliness, depression, loss of self-identity, strained marital relations and - in extreme cases - exploitation and abuse. Through a unique expressionistic combination of visuals, monologue, verite footage and interviews, the film takes us on a journey into the director inner turmoil's, search for spiritual strength and eventual resolve to bring hope and political change for other women who are frozen in time because of the restrictive nature of this visa.
- Directed by Meghna Damani
- Written by Meghna Damani
- Produced by Meghna Damani
- Running Time 27 min
- Release Date 2007
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Country
United States of America
- Content Rating Intended Audience: family
- Website Hearts Suspended
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Written by Meghna Damani
Produced by Meghna Damani
Cast
This film was born one afternoon in a coffee shop below my apartment in Jersey City, New Jersey. As I looked through the glass windows, at the Manhattan skyline with the Hudson river whispering to it gently, for a fraction of an instant I lost concept of time. I felt I was on Marine Drive in Bombay overlooking the jeweled skyline nicknamed as the 'Queen's necklace'. In that moment I knew that I was neither here nor there - I was truly suspended between the two countries, two realities and two identities - independent and dependent.
I was not complete in this country despite being here for 5 yrs because of my 'dependent spouse' visa status that did not allow me to work despite my Masters and 3 years of work experience. I could not understand this law. My spiritual practice of chanting 'Nam Myoho Renge Kyo' with the SGI (www.sgi.org) gave me strength to turn this humungous blank period of my life into something that creates value, for, I learnt, it is because of the very muck that the lotus blooms.
This film is a piece of my life that I hope will tell the story of the thousands of educated women like myself who come here every year as doctors, lawyers, architects, business professionals, artists, etc. and are forced to stay at home for an indefinite period of time. Many are abused, exploited or in just plain denial that they have lost the most precious years of their lives - irrevocably.
