On 28th February 1968 Mira Alfassa – The Mother began in South India the Auroville project with the aim of creating a more mundane extension of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry. She entrusted the movie artist Michel Montecrossa, who later founded on her behalf Mirapuri – the City of Peace and Futureman in Europe, Italy, with the documentation of the beginnings of Auroville. The following film shows the years 1973 – 1976 and the pioneering spirit of that time when Mira Alfassa was still living and helped to give the right direction. After her death on 17th November 1973 the original spirit prevailed for some years but began to change after 1976. The Auroville community split into various groups and bitter, increasingly violent conflicts eroded the original inspiration. By the 1980’s the level of violence became so strong that the Indian government intervened, expropriated the project and changed it into a touristic government-controlled business, combined with educational and rural development endeavours.