Vanitas

*IN-CINEMA* *SHORT SESSION 3*

Vanitas is a son’s belated eulogy to his long-dead Anglo-Indian father whose modest aspirations were crushed by bad luck, ill-health and racism. The film explores the often-combative and testy relationship between these two immigrants through animation, music and spoken-word narration. The work resonates with Lauren Berlant’s concept of ‘cruel optimism’ – that is, the investment in dreams and life goals that generate anxiety, dissatisfaction and despair.