Indian nonfiction filmmaker Amar Kanwar’s latest film, A Night of Prophecy, is a simple work about poetry and songs, poets and singers. Traveling through the Indian states of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Nagaland, and finally Kashmir—complex territories of severe conflict where throats are cut, minds have been taught to absorb generations of violence, and where no reconciliation seems possible—the fever of change is felt. Kanwar posits that it is only through poetry and image that we can fully comprehend the history and severity of the conflict and witness the passage of time. As the different poetic narratives he presents begin to merge together, we are able to see a more universal language of symbols and meaning take shape. The point at which this merger in the mind occurs is the simple moment of prophecy.