Collective Dreams Stitched Into December

Collective Dreams Stitched Into December is an intimate documentary that unveils the hidden pulse of Jaipur, Rajasthan—a city often reduced to its grand forts and regal history. Set across a single December, the film shifts focus from the opulence of monarchy to the quiet resilience of everyday life, revealing stories tucked into unassuming corners where labor, mundanity, and community thrive unseen.

The documentary weaves together multiple threads: a visiting Bangladeshi filmmaker’s experimental screening that sparks cross-cultural dialogue; the rhythmic toil of blanket makers whose hands spin warmth into winter; and the paperwallahs, unsung custodians who stir the city awake each dawn. Intercut with these vignettes are gatherings of Jaipur’s civil society, where locals debate pressing issues shaping their district and state, grounding the film in urgent contemporary discourse -- the impending displacement of the tribal people of Dholpur.

Layered between these realities are ethereal dream sequences. Verdant green spaces—parks, gardens, and the fringes of the Aravalli forests—merge with a mythic folktale rooted in the region’s indigenous history. These poetic interludes blur past and present, suggesting a timeless connection between land and memory, while challenging the viewer to see Jaipur not as a static relic, but as a living tapestry of struggle, heritage, and collective imagination.

By stitching labor to lyricism and grassroots activism to ancestral lore, the film invites audiences to look beyond postcard clichés and confront the invisible forces that sustain—and haunt—a city in flux. This film is an attempt to look at the invisible.