Jennifer Baichwal's overwhelming Kumbh Mela experience

Filmmaker Jennifer Baichwal was moved to see the stunning visuals of Kumbh Mela in Allahabad which she used in her documentary 'Watermark'.
The documentary made its international premiere here at the Dharamshala International Film Festival.
Though, Jennifer couldn't go to India back then for the shoot, she says her husband Nick de Pencier and co-director Edward Burtynsky stayed at the Mela for three weeks.
"It was such a hard decision of not going. We had such a tight deadline as we were submitting it to DIFF. It had to be done, there was no leeway. I got stuck with editing but it was an overwhelming experience in the right way for Nick. It was a beautiful spiritual experience mostly because there were so many people there.

"The ocean of people there... That is the population of Canada. They all had this intensely spiritual private moment as an individual. And when I looked though all of that footage it was moving for me," Jennifer told PTI on the sidelines DIFF.
'Watermark' brings together stories from around the world about our relationship with water. It has been shot from massive floating abalone farms in China and the barren desert delta of Colorado to the water-intensive leather tanneries in Dhaka.

The movie made its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival and soon after that was released in Canada.
"Our international festivals are about to happen but I really wanted to come here so technically this is our international premiere. It has been selected for other festivals too. It is being sold around the world and we are also negotiating with an Indian distributor," she said.

Jennifer is on her second trip to India with her daughter Anna. She had earlier come for the last rites of her father Krishna Baichwal, who was an Indian in Badrinath.
The director has been working for more than 20 years and has made films like 'Manufactured Landscapes', 'Act of God' and 'Payback'.