Ethnomusicologist Dr. Johanna Spector of the Jewish Theological Seminary made two documentary films about the Cochin Jewish community: About the Jews of India: Cochin (1976) and a 1992 follow-up, Two Thousand Years of Freedom and Honour: The Cochin Jews of India. The 1976 film opens with the line: “For 2000 years, Jews lived in freedom and prosperity in the south of India. Today, they are gone,” and documents synagogue life, family traditions, and the Malayalam-language Jewish songs Spector spent decades recording.
Background on the Films
Jews of Cochin blog: Dr. Johanna Spector’s documentary on the Jews of Cochin. Biography: Johanna Spector, Jewish Women’s Archive. Her audio and film archive is held at the Jewish Theological Seminary: Johanna Spector Audio Collection, JTS.