The state of Tamil Nadu is located along the south east coast of the Indian subcontinent. The Tamil culture and language is said to have its origins in prehistoric times and is related to the ancient Dravidian culture of Southern India. The rural region of interior Tamil Nadu is made up of thousands of small villages, most with no electricity, inadequate health care and on-going problems with inadequate sanitation and water supplies. Health care is not affordable for most families.
Produced and directed by Professor Annette Danto of Brooklyn College, THE NEVER ENDING PATH tells the stories of the women living in rural Tamil Nadu. From 5 family units, the women share many of the concerns facing mothers and their daughters throughout rural regions of Southeast Asia. As with women from poor villages in many parts of the world, issues of dowry, their daughters’ educational opportunities, and economic hardship are discussed, along with inter-caste and arranged marriages.
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Author Bio
Annette Danto is a Professor of Film, Television and Radio at Brooklyn College, CUNY. In addition to teaching courses on film and television production, she is the program director for CUNY's Study Abroad India: Documentary Production course in collaboration with the Prasad Film & Television Academy in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Danto is the president of Friends of Fulbright to India, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting educational exchange between India and the United States.
Danto has directed over 18 films and videos, both fiction and documentaries. She was awarded a Fulbright Senior Scholar Research Grant in 2002 and a Fulbright Specialist’s Grant in 2004. As a Fulbright Scholar at the Gandhigram Rural Institute, Tamil Nadu, S. India, she filmed The Never Ending Path (2005), A Daughter's Letter (2003), Listen to a Story (2003) and Sowabaghya Illam (2004). Several of these films were created collaboratively with the Gandhigram Rural Institute to be used for community outreach campaigns addressing girls’ education, health care, and environmental topics. She has also directed films for Pathfinder International, Shanti’s Story (2004) and for the United Nations Development Fund for Women Shea Nut Gatherers of Burkina Faso (2001).
