Film Forum

Writer/director Payal Kapadia is a Mumbai based filmmaker. She studied Film Direction at the Film & Television Institute of India. Her short films Afternoon Clouds and And What Is The Summer Saying premiered respectively at the Cinéfondation and the Berlinale. Her first feature film A NIGHT OF KNOWING NOTHING premiered at 2021 Director’s Fortnight, where it won the Golden Eye for best documentary. Her second feature ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT premiered in Cannes 2024 in Official Competition, where it won the Grand Prix.

Shuchi Talati is a filmmaker from India whose work challenges dominant narratives around gender, sexuality, and South Asian identity. Her feature film, GIRLS WILL BE GIRLS, premiered in competition at Sundance where it won an Audience Award and a Special Jury Award. The film has been a recipient of Aide Aux Cinémas du Monde and Sørfond grants, and the ArteKINO and VFF Talent Award at the Berlinale Co-Production Market. It has also been selected for Gotham Week, Berlinale Script Station and Cine Qua Non Script Lab. Her short film, Period Piece, about an afternoon of period sex, was selected for SXSW. Mae and Ash won numerous awards before becoming a Vimeo Staff Pick. Shuchi is an alum of Berlinale Talents, and her work has also been recognized by the New York State Council for the Arts and Région Île-de-France. She is a graduate of the American Film Institute. She lives in NYC and is a member of the Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective, the Bitchitra Collective and the Freelance Solidarity Project.

Supported by a Humanities New York Action Grant

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