Director: Geeta Patel, Ravi Patel
Year: 2014
Running Time: 88 minutes
Synopsis
Meet The Patels is a laugh-out-loud real life romantic comedy about Ravi Patel, an almost-30-year-old Indian-American who enters a love triangle between the woman of his dreams … and his parents. Filmed by Ravi’s sister in what started as a family vacation video, this hilarious and heartbreaking film reveals how love is a family affair. In addition to the witty comedic nature of the film, the documentary also uses humor to address a timely social issue: In early 2009, directors, sister and brother team, Geeta and Ravi Patel began to explore and document the societal pressures of marriage in their first-generation Indian American family. Through research in India and America, they discovered that their “Indian Issue” was more of an “American Issue”: the majority of Americans with strong cultural and religious roots shared a serious psychological conflict when it came to dating (and marrying) outside of their skin color, culture, religion, and ethnicity.
Awards
Hot Docs Film Festival – Audience Award
Los Angeles Film Festival – Audience Award
Hardacre Film Festival – Audience Award
Traverse City Film Festival – Best Film Award; Audience Award
Mosaic International South Asian Film Festival – Audience Award
Mt. Hood Independent Film Festival – Best Feature Documentary Award