1 week ago
Documentary Explores Adoption, Identity and Belonging in Indian American Family
Love Chaos Kin is a documentary about a family with several different backgrounds.
Lakshmi and Narayanan Iyer adopted twin girls named Anjali and Meghna.
The girls are white and have Navajo ancestry.
They grew up with Indian food, Hindu traditions and an Indian American family.
They also stayed connected to their birth mother, Katherine Faye.
The film shows how the girls think about their birth family and cultural roots.
It also shows how difficult it can be when other people expect them to explain their family.
Filmmaker Chithra Jeyaram says adopted children should understand where they come from when possible.
The documentary asks people to think more broadly about what makes a family.
Chithra Jeyaram’s documentary Love Chaos Kin follows an Indian American couple and their adopted twin daughters.
The daughters, Anjali and Meghna, are white and of Navajo descent, and were adopted at 10 months.
The twins were raised in Indian and Hindu traditions while maintaining a connection with their birth mother, Katherine Faye.
The film examines adoption, cultural identity, belonging and the girls’ search for their estranged Native American father.
Love Chaos Kin will have its UK premiere as the opening gala film of the London Breeze Film Festival on October 21.
- Who
- Filmmaker Chithra Jeyaram, Lakshmi and Narayanan Iyer, their adopted twin daughters Anjali and Meghna, and the girls’ birth mother Katherine Faye.
- What
- A documentary, Love Chaos Kin, explores adoption, identity, cultural belonging and the relationships among an adopted family and birth family.
- Where
- The UK premiere will take place at Regent Street Cinema in London during the London Breeze Film Festival.
- When
- The documentary was filmed over eight years and follows 12 years of the family’s life; its UK premiere is scheduled for October 21.
- Why
- Jeyaram made the film to examine how children navigate multiple histories, cultures and families, and to encourage broader ideas about adoption and belonging.
Key facts
- Film
- Love Chaos Kin
- Director
- Chithra Jeyaram
- Central family
- Lakshmi and Narayanan Iyer and their adopted twin daughters, Anjali and Meghna
- Children’s background
- The twins are white and of Navajo descent
- Adoption age
- The girls were adopted at 10 months
- UK premiere
- October 21 at Regent Street Cinema
- Festival
- London Breeze Film Festival, running October 21–25
- Running time
- 98 minutes
Quotes
Chithra Jeyaram
Indian American filmmaker and director of Love Chaos Kin
“Spanning 12 years of the family’s life, the 98-minute documentary follows Lakshmi’s efforts to help her daughters understand where they came from, including reconnecting with their birth mother and searching for their estranged Native American father.”
easterneye.biz
“So therefore, whoever is adopting has to think of this as, yes, you are getting something, but you also need to make sure you are caring for that family that gave you a child, and for the child who’s lost a family.”
easterneye.biz
Sources
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