A documentary exploring the lives of Punjabi-Sikh farmworkers in Yuba City during the 1980s will screen on Friday, Nov. 6 at the Sutter Theater Center for the Arts, followed by a discussion with the filmmakers, the Territorial Dispatch reported on Oct. 19.

Source: Territorial Dispatch

Yuba Sutter Arts & Culture, which is presenting the film, says doors open at 5:30 p.m. at 754 Plumas Street in Yuba City, the film begins at 6 p.m., tickets are $10, and a panel discussion with the director and others involved follows the screening.

Source: Yuba Sutter Arts & Culture press release (Oct 13)

“Harvest Party at Camp Two” is an approximately 16-minute documentary co-directed by Rajan Gill and Reaa Puri. It examines young farmworkers who spent their days in peach orchards and their evenings finding ways to socialise despite cultural barriers and discrimination.

The film focuses on the harvest parties that became a tradition among young farmworkers who could not attend local high school proms and homecoming dances. The gatherings gave young people a chance to socialise, dance and build friendships in an agricultural community.

The documentary began with a photograph of Gill's father, Kashmir “Kash” Gill, attending one of those harvest parties. Through archival footage, family photographs, interviews and reenactments, the filmmakers trace stories Gill had heard about his father's youth and the experiences of Punjabi-Sikh families in Yuba City. Karm Bains appears in scenes from the film, according to the Dispatch's photo captions.

For Punjabi families across California's Central Valley — and for diaspora readers whose own parents worked the orchards — the screening is a rare chance to see that generation's story told on a big screen in the town where it happened.