A series of feature-length documentaries made by independent film-makers. Forest of Bliss
An impressionistic vision of ritual life on the Ganges.
Director Robert Gardner first came across the Great
Cremation Ground at Benares, India, ten years ago. Like a vast football terrace wedged between the banks of the Ganges and some of India's most monumental classical architecture, this is the place where priests perform age-old rituals, cremating the corpses of devout Hindus and scattering the ashes on the sacred river.
The images in this film are haunting: sunrise over the Ganges, a shrouded corpse afloat in the sacred river, a field of marigolds, and a monkey ringing a bell in a temple lit by flickering fires.
Series editor Andre Singer
0 INFORMATION: an in-depth guide to the series and work of individual Fine Cut film-makers, entitled In Search of the Feature Documentary, is available by sendinga cheque for £3.50, payable to BBC Television, to [address removed]