Shundell Prasad had only been in Guyana for a few days before her face was in every daily newspaper and her story on the lips of just about everyone who read of her journey. Interestingly her documentary, Once More Removed: A Journey Back to India, which brought her here, had not even been screened yet.

Her sincere smiles, attractive face and animated persona made it easy to understand the immediate buzz, but Shundell's story is so compelling that whether it is on paper or on screen, people are drawn to it.

You might have asked why now or what is it about her story, but ten minutes into the film and you forget the questions and take the journey with her. She did sort of breeze into the country very suddenly and thrust the story on us but it is a great story and she has creatively turned it into a moving film.

You don't really have to question why Shundell's family or any other family would have left here in the eighties in search of a better life or why her ancestors or yours would have left India or elsewhere to work here as indentured servants or why they came as slaves, that is already an integral part of our history. It is what shapes our culture.

But as the story unfolds on screen it hits you that when Shundell Prasad unravelled a part of her ancestral history to find her identity, she also stumbled on your history or at least a part of it. Her story is interwoven with yours. And in it she takes us to back to a time when the Guyanese identity appeared to have been lost and people were just fleeing the country.

It was a little before 5 pm when she arrived at the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre on High Street a few minutes ahead of a private screening of her film last Saturday. Stunning in a festive sari, she floated around the room greeting invitees, among them former president Janet Jagan.

There was a brief delay as her team set everything in place and she awaited the arrival of a few guests. Sensing an obvious tinge of impatience in the audience, she opts to open up about the film and let people into what led her to India.

"I grew up as an American but I look Indian. Am I American or Indian? These are the questions I asked myself and I wanted answers so I decided to make the journey back to Guyana and then to India."

These words are in the film and they explain fully what she was feeling. Shundell grew up in New York and most of what she knew about herself was the information her environment provided. Besides looking in the mirror and identifying with an Indian background she knew nothing more of who her family was and her forefathers and where they came from.

She said that when the opportunity came for her to take on a project for her thesis in her final year at Tisch School of Arts, New York University she chose to make the journey back to India. It would be her first film and a search to discover her roots.

There is a scene in her film where Shundell breaks the news to her parents that she would be travelling to Guyana after being away for 18 years (she left here at the age of seven) and her mother immediately expresses fear. Her father, though with some apprehension, wishes her well and prays that her mission is complete.

When she presses her mother to go with her, Shundell receives an outright refusal.

Her journey really begins in Queens, New York where she grew up in a vibrant Indo-Caribbean neighbourhood. It is there that Shundell realizes that despite all she has achieved in terms of school and life, something is still missing. That something is her Indian identity so she left in search of it.

In Guyana she reunites with family in Berbice, particularly her mother's sister. After fielding questions about her great-grandparents, she accesses old ship records from the National Archives.

When she stumbles on the name she was seeking, Shundell beams and we next see her in India.

The more moving part of her story is in India where she not only finds the family she seeks but connects with her Indian identity. When she arrives in Bihar where a village assembles to greet a returned daughter, she becomes emotional. People are everywhere and they are greeting her, blessing her and showering her with love.

Nothing about her looks is displaced in Bihar, save for her manner of dress. She appears happy and somewhere between the laughs and the hugs she makes a spiritual connection. Shundell then opts to do a puja, which is a religious ceremony.

When the journey ends you long for more but that is it. Shundell Prasad had crossed three continents on a self-defining journey and in the process told a wonderful story. Having taken the journey back to discover her roots, she is now well set for the journey forward. Perhaps to Hollywood and/or Cannes in the near future.

"There were times when I wanted to buy a Gucci bag or a pair of designer shoes like my friends were but I put all my money into this project. I wanted to because it is important to me," she related.

Shundell said something in her wanted her to do the film. She said her passion for filmmaking came after she started modelling and got a chance to meet people in the business. Initially she was an Arts major but switched to filmmaking.

She said many businesses and individuals in the Queens, New York area came out in full support of her project and that was thanks in part to Hamar Singh who afforded her an opportunity to use his radio programme for public relations work.

"He told me five minutes the most, but when I started talking about what I wanted to do and how important this was to me he kept me on for three hours. People responded in a big way and in the end I had 40 sponsors behind me," she said with a broad smile.

Yesterday, the Bombay Theatre in Fresh Meadows, Queens, New York, hosted the world premiere of Shundell film's. She said her parents, Bonee and Devi Prasad and younger sister were going to be there, cheering her on in the front row.