KASHISH 2021 NARRATIVE JURY

CARY RAJINDER SAWHNEY MBE is one of Europe’s best-known curators of Indian cinema. He is the Programming Director of Bagri Foundation London Indian Film Festival, which is one of the world’s largest South Asian film festivals and has a pioneering LGBTQ+ program. He is also an award-winning short filmmaker. Cary formerly worked at the British Film Institute as Head of Diversity and Programme Adviser to the BFI London Film Festival. His career started as a professional photographer.  He is a member of the British Film Academy (BAFTA).

GAURI SHINDE is a well-known Indian film director of advertising and feature films. Gauri made her feature film directorial debut with the highly acclaimed English Vinglish (2012) marking the comeback of late actress Sridevi. This film catapulted Gauri almost instantaneously into the A list of Feature Film Writer-Directors of India. The film premiered at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival 2012 to a standing ovation. Besides a slew of awards, the film and she received, Gauri Shinde also got featured in the London-based Financial Times’ 2012 list of ’25 Indians To Watch’. In 2016 she wrote and directed the thought-provoking and very successful coming-of-age drama Dear Zindagi (2016) starring Alia Bhatt and Shah Rukh Khan. . Once again, Gauri Shinde received rave reviews from critics and viewers alike including the New York Times, which called it “insightful” and a “sharply observed drama”. In addition to writing and directing features, Gauri has been an ad-film director, with more than 100 ad films as well as 2 award-winning shorts to her credit. After spending a number of years at some of the most prestigious global advertising firms in India, Lowe Lintas being one. Gauri went freelance and now runs Hope Productions, alongside her husband and fellow filmmaker R. Balki.

RITESH BATRA is a BAFTA Award-nominated writer-director who was named one of Variety’s Ten Directors to Watch in 2017. His most recent film, Photograph, premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and was released by Amazon Studios in May. His previous films include Our Souls at Night, starring Robert Redford and Jane Fonda, for Netflix, and The Sense of an Ending for BBC and FilmNation starring Jim Broadbent and Charlotte Rampling. Ritesh’s debut feature film, The Lunchbox, was supported by Sundance and premiered at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival where it won the Grand Rail d’Or. It was one of the best-reviewed films of the year and nominated for the 2015 BAFTA Awards for “Best Film Not In The English Language”.

SATYA RAI NAGPAUL is an India-based cinematographer. He brings years of work in environmental and political documentary filmmaking, professional cinematography training at the Film & Television Institute of India [FTII], Pune, and working with ace Indian and visiting cinematographers, to his independent practice. Satya’s most recognized queer work is Hansal Mehta’s ‘Aligarh’. Satya won the national award for cinematography in 2011 for his first feature, Alms of the Blind Horse. Also Gurvinder Singh’s directorial debut, it is considered a torchbearer of the new Indian Art Cinema. Pakistan’s 2013 entry to the Oscars after a gap of 50 years, Meenu Gaur and Farzad Nabi’s Zinda Bhaag, was photographed by Satya in Lahore. In 2015, his film, The Fourth Direction, Gurvinder’s second feature, was in competition at the Cannes Film Festival’s Uncertain Regard. In 2017, he won the Filmfare for Best Cinematography for this film, in the Punjabi edition of these awards. In 2019, Satya started work on the principal photography of a feature documentary looking at the effect of climate change on insect species in the Himalayas. Directed by Anupama Srinivasan and Anirban Dutta, the project has picked up two prestigious development grants, IDFA’s Bertha Fund and Sundance’s Sandbox Fund. Just before the pandemic started, Satya finished shooting Adh Chanani Raat, Gurvinder Singh’s last film in the Punjab trilogy. His 2020 release, Ghoomketu, a Nawazuddin Siddiqui starrer, was one of the first OTT releases of 2020. And with 2021, has come the news of Custody, Ambiecka Pandit’s directorial debut, winning the National award for Best Short Fiction Film.

SELVAGGIA VELO was born in 1972 in Florence, Italy, and then she studied at the University of Bologna, and achieved her Master’s Degree in Humanities, Department of Art, Cinema, Music, and Theatre. Since 1998 she works with Indian cinema and on other cultural events in the fields of cinema, contemporary arts, and music. In 2001 she founds and directs the first film festival in the world – out of India – totally devoted to films from and about India, the River to River Florence Indian Film Festival. During the years, River to River has had Amitabh Bachchan, Shabana Azmi, Irrfan Khan, Deepa Mehta, Kabir Bedi, Aparna Sen, Anurag Kashyap, and many others among its guests. Selvaggia and the Festival team are currently working on the 21^st edition that will take place from 3 to 8 December 2021. She has been a member of International Juries and has curated film programs and moderated panels in Europe and India.