Crasses et Voluptés

This is a film made at the largest gathering of people in the world, the Kumbha Mela, held in 1985 at Haridwar in northern India.

The film was made by Ira Cohen, one of the great beat poets and film-makers working from the 1960s onwards, who only recently passed away (in 2011).

Cohen was living in Kathmandu when he heard that the 3-yearly Kumbha Mela would take place that year in Haridwar, so he grabbed a camera, some friends and headed down to record it. Along with video of some of the yogis and sadhus at the festival, Cohen reads his poetic reflections of the event, and the outcome is a timeless documentary, going deeper than most.