Auroville is 2,000 people from a multitude of social and religious backgrounds live together through embracing their differences

“Journey to the City of Dawn – Auroville, India”

A timely and inspirational film about human unity and critical issues of environmental sustainability. Follow along as we sail across the Atlantic from the US towards India and the answer to one question – “Can the blueprint for the future of mankind be found in a tiny community in a developing country?”

BRIEF SYNOPSIS
This film tells a timely and inspirational story of human unity and critical issues of environmental sustainability. At its core, the film asks one question – “Can the blueprint for the future of mankind be found in a tiny community in a developing country?”

The story is a journey, both literally and metaphysically, that begins in the US and culminates in the small community of Auroville, India. Ann and Ali, two young post graduate students from the US, will embark on a tremendous adventure from their home in Massachusetts half way around the world to Auroville. Their goal is to learn from a place they believe is undeniably important to human existence. Embracing the opportunity to live a more eco-friendly life-style, Ann and Ali decide to sail from the US to the UK, and then continue on by any means necessary to Auroville. It is this journey that will drive our story and move the audience closer and closer to realizing the importance of learning from a contemporary social experiment with a 40-year history.

We begin in 1968 with the realization of the inspired vision of Sri Aurobindo, an Indian philosopher whose teachings are the foundation of Auroville’s goal of achieving human unity and realizing the future of humankind. We will relive the original journey to a desolate, barren region in southern India by a handful of people. Many of those original settlers are from the US. Frederick, who still lives in Auroville, shares the unimaginable hardships undertaken to transform a place unsuitable for human life into a tropical, self-sustainable township. This may be one of the only times in history when people settled in an area where they first had to provide everything essential for human existence including water, the means to create shelter and the ability to grow any type of food. Today that handful has grown to 2,000 people, representing 40 countries, living together for the common good. The ties that bind the residents are the teachings of Sri Aurobindo as well as the founder and spiritual leader of Auroville, referred to as The Mother. Both are long since deceased but the community carries on with their vision intact.

The people of Auroville are our story. They have undertaken incredible initiatives including extensive use of solar energy, an emphasis on organic farming and the positive influence they have with the impoverished villages that surround them. Our cast includes a musician who leaves his native Canada in 1968 at just 16-years-old, and somehow finds his way to Auroville. And Alok, who at 41 years old, was raised in Auroville. After 40 years of development it’s time for the world to hear their stories of progress, setbacks, and their role as an evolving example to the world.

The Past. The Beginning. Auroville 1968: If there is a blueprint for the future of mankind, perhaps some attention should be given to a social experiment, 40 years in the making, in the small community of Auroville, India. Cracked earth and a hot dry wind are all that exist on a 2-kilometer square patch of barren desert near the southeastern coastline of India; a fitting foundation for an ambitious plan to transform mankind’s realization of its future. An extensive collection of photos from this time period will illustrate the story of Auroville’s beginning as we hear from Frederick, one of the city’s original settlers. This may be one of the only times in history when people settled in an area where they first had to provide for all the essentials of human existence including water, the means to create shelter and the ability to grow any type of food. On that hot day in 1968, a caravan of 5,000 people from 124 countries around the globe could be seen approaching on dusty roads as far as the eye could see. Here, where nothing grew and no one lived, they gathered to commence the experiment known as Auroville, literally the “City of Dawn”.

Unity Through Diversity: Auroville is 2,000 people from a multitude of social and religious backgrounds, choosing to live together not by conforming to an accepted normalcy, but through embracing their differences. This is the uniqueness that is Auroville – achieving unity through diversity. It is this quality that most embodies their role as an example to the world.

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