Film Forum

Ross McElwee is an American documentary filmmaker whose work blends autobiography, cultural observation, and humor. His breakthrough film SHERMAN’S MARCH (1986) won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize. McElwee has made ten feature-length documentaries, which have premiered at such festivals as Berlin, Cannes, and Venice three times. He has received numerous career honors, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Pennebaker Award. In 2005, MoMA presented a full retrospective of his work, later shown in Paris, Seoul, Quito, Madrid, and Moscow. His filmography includes: CHARLEEN (1980); BACKYARD (1982); SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE WALL (1989); TIME INDEFINITE (1991); SIX O’CLOCK NEWS (1996); BRIGHT LEAVES (2003); IN PARAGUAY (2009); and PHOTOGRAPHIC MEMORY (2011).

Mira Nair is an Academy-Award® nominated director best known for her visually dense films that pulsate with life. Her debut feature, SALAAM BOMBAY! (1988), won the Caméra d’Or at Cannes, followed by the groundbreaking MISSISSIPPI MASALA (1991), the Golden Globe & Emmy-winning HYSTERICAL BLINDNESS (2001), and the international hit MONSOON WEDDING (2001), for which she was the first woman to win Venice Film Festival’s coveted Golden Lion. Also known for her literary craftsmanship of subcontinental fiction, Mira has filmed THE NAMESAKE (2006), THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST (2012), VANITY FAIR (2004), A SUITABLE BOY (2020) and QUEEN OF KATWE (2016). She returned to the theatre for her most recent endeavor, directing Monsoon Wedding the Musical, which opened in New York City at St Ann’s Warehouse in May 2023 and is bound for the West End in 2026. Her next feature films will be AMRI, an experimental portrait of Amrita Sher-Gil, India’s pioneering modern artist, and BRO, a searing tale of class, conflict, and revenge in contemporary India. A book on Mira Nair’s cinema will be published by Rizzoli in 2026. An activist by nature, Nair founded Salaam Baalak Trust for street children in 1989, and the Maisha Film Lab in East Africa to train film makers on the continent in 2004. In 2012, she was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India’s third-highest civilian honour.

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