Filmi 21! Virtual Edition
Filmi Toronto’s South Asian Film Festival Celebrating 21 Years!
December 27th, 2020
21st Filmi: Toronto’s South Asian film festival
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Category: filmi2016
0 Leeches
Leeches
Toronto Premiere
Director: Payal Sethi
Duration: 20 Minutes
Synopsis: In the Old City of Hyderabad, Raisa hatches a dangerous plan to save her younger sister from becoming a one-day bride when she finds an archaic remedy that could restore a girl’s virginity.
Director: Payal Sethi
AWARDS:
Brussels Short Film Festival 2016 – Best Short Film
Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles 2016 – Honorable Mention – Best Performance in a Short Film
Indian Film Festival, Stuttgart 2016
International Women’s Film Festival Seoul 2016 – Audience Award
Zanzibar International Film Festival 2016 – Best Dhow Film
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0 Spunkle
Spunkle
Canadian Premiere
Director: Lisa Donato
Duration: 11 Minutes
Synopsis:
A brother contemplates fatherhood when his older sister and her free-spirited wife ask him to be their sperm donor.
Director: Lisa Donato
Lisa Donato is an award-winning writer and director based out of Austin, Texas. She recently co-wrote the feature film, SIGNATURE MOVE, which was chosen for the TriBeCa Film Institute program in 2016. The movie will be released to the festival circuit in early 2017. Production, writing, and directorial credits include shows for National Geographic Wild, Oprah Winfrey Network, two feature documentaries, and several award-winning short films and music videos.
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0 Almost Nice
Almost Nice
World Premiere
Director: Ash Varma
Duration: 8 Minutes
Synopsis: Sometimes it’s just about keeping her happy.
Director: Ash Varma
Director: Ashish has been making short films for many years now. Ashish has 2 films (Product and Almost Nice) at Filmi 2016. He has had a very productive year creating many shorts and web series. Ashish has written his first full length film and is in the process of developing that film.
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0 Kathakaar
Kathakaar
Canadian Premiere
Director: Abhimanyu Kanodia
Duration: 11 Minutes
Synopsis:
Prakash, an old theatre projectionist of a single screen theatre
and a cinema lover is fired from his job because of the change
in the technology. Devastated by this sudden catastrophe and not
knowing what to do next he decides to move to his village where
he has a small house. Struggling with what to do with his life
he one day narrates a story for a crying kid. This incident
helps Prakash get his confidence back and gradually he starts
telling stories to the kids in the village and ultimately
enchants the entire village through his storytelling, also
rediscovering his passion.
Director: Abhimanyu Kanodia
Born at Ajmer, Rajasthan on 31st December, 1988. After
completing class 12th from Mayor School (Ajmer), he moved to
Mumbai (India), to take up Chartered Accountancy course and
completed it in year 2013. In 2013, he joined Mumbai based
film school Whistling Woods International to study filmmaking.
He graduated in July 2015 with a major in Direction.
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/KathakaarShortFilm
Awards and Accolades
– Semi-Finalist in the Foreign Narrative category of the 43 rd annual Student Academy
Awards. Out of 1,749 submitted to the Student Academy the advancement puts
Kathakaar in roughly the top 5% of all films submitted.
– Best International Short Film- 5 th Vancouver International South Asian Film Festival, 2015
– Best Short Film (JURY) – 5 th Washington D.C. South Asian Film Festival, Washington D.C., 2016
– Competitor Award- II International Motivational Film Festival BRIDGE of ARTS, Rostov-on-Don, Russia, 2016
– Best Short Film- 6 th Jagran Film Festival, Mumbai, 2015
– Best Short Film- 5 th Pune Short Film Festival, 2015
– Best Short Film- 4 th Bangalore Shorts Film Festival, 2015
– Best Short Film- CORTOKINO International Film Festival, Mumbai, 2016
– Best Short Film- Aakruti International Film Festival, Mumbai, 2015
– Best Director- 4 th Kolkata Shorts International Film Festival, 2015
– Best Screenplay- 6 th Dada Saheb Phalke Film Festival, 2016
– Best Cinematography (Student)- Haryana Internatinal Film Festival, 2016
– Best Actor in a Short Film (Piyush Mishra): Haryana Internatinal Film Festival, 2016
Official selection
– 3rd Benicia Film Festival, California, 2016
– 2nd Machetanz Film Festival, Alaska, 2016
– PLANOS – Tomar International Short Film Festival, 2016
– 1st Norwich Radical Film Festival, United Kingdom, 2016
– 14th Pune International Film Festival, 2016
– 8th Nashik International Film Festival, 2016
– 5th Delhi International Film Festival, 2015
– 5th Bengaluru International Short Film Festival, 2015
– 2nd Rajasthan International Film Festival, Jaipur, 2016
– 1st All Lights India International Film Festival, Kochi, 2015 (Opening Short Film)
– 13th Frames Film Festival, Mumbai, 2016
– 1st Haryana International Film Festival, 2016
– 3rd Goa Short Film Festival, 2016
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0 Echo
Echo
Director: Scott Jarvie
Duration: 4 Minutes
Synopsis:
Artificial Intelligence Analyst Peter and his Artificial Intelligence Software, Laura, are tasked with reviewing incident reports involving their company’s software. This includes police reports where the AI’s recorded memory needs to be reviewed for the case file. Using the memory recording technology that comes standard with all AI programs, Peter and Laura are able to enter a physical simulation of their clients memory.
They receive a murder report involving two people equipped with their company’s software. Unsure how the victim and suspect are connected, they enter the recorded memories from the time of the crime to assist the police.
Peter quickly realizes that the case they’ve been sent isn’t what it appears to be when the murder report doesn’t actually contain a murder. He works with Laura to troubleshoot possibilities that could have caused the mistake. When there are no signs of an error he is convinced that the case is actually a puzzle that he needs to solve.
His Boss hears that Peter’s actions are putting the entire company at risk and confronts him before he takes things too far. Perplexed as to how he was able to attract the attention of Head Office, Peter turns to Laura to help him analyze the situation. Knowing what he’s done wrong, Laura is afraid of what Peter might do to remedy the situation. Peter slowly deduces what Laura is hiding and he must convince her that they need to rely on each other in order to survive.
Director: Scott Jarvie
Growing up in Aurora, Ontario, Canada Scott was always dabbling in the arts, even at a very young age. Although he created short videos for school projects throughout Elementary School, it wasn’t until a High School Media Arts class that he learned video could be so much more.
Hooked instantly, he expanded his studies into writing and communication studies to fully grasp what medium was capable of. Confident that video was the correct outlet to express his artistic visions, he enrolled into the Toronto Film School’s Digital Film and Television Production program.
After graduating, Scott fell into a roll of producing and editing short films in Toronto. He also took on the roll of Multi-Media Producer at a local Aurora Marketing and Communications firm where he really honed his technical skills in preparation for directing his own projects.
Combining his passion for science and technology, Scott focuses on Genre stories with a passion for science-fiction. This allows him to create fantastical stories that critique social norms and how he sees them evolving through the advancements in technology.
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0 SUGAR CUBE: a Journey Through A Creative “Block”
SUGAR CUBE: a Journey Through A Creative “Block”
Toronto Premiere
Director: Earthwyn
Duration: 12 Minutes
SUGAR CUBE is an animated short film about an artist, who must battle through and overcome the many phases of a creative block, in order to reclaim his inspiration.
Norman, a young artist from New York, finds himself caught in a moment of inspiration when his brilliant idea is stifled by a creative block. Before the idea slips away and his mind is entirely consumed by “the block,” Norman decides to fight back. Now Norman must foray through the various stages of this battle and overcome its insurmountable obstacles in order to rediscover his inspiration, before it dissolves like a sugar cube.
Director: Earthwyn
Toronto-based writer and director Adithya Addageethala (born April 1, 1987) better known by his stage name Earthwyn, has been independently producing and providing freelance services for film and television for the past six years. Formally trained as an Urban Designer, Earthywn brought his strong design background and professional public speaking abilities to the realm of film in 2010, when he became the owner and founding member of 1987 Productions. Since then, Earthwyn has written and directed 4 short films, including the film “Metro,” for which he took home the prize for Best Picture at the Toronto 24 Hour Film Challenge, and has worked on numerous music videos for Toronto artists like Karina Es, Derek Wise and Shawn Desman, just to name a few. “Sugar Cube” marks the debut of Earthwyn’s first animated short film, and is sure to astound audiences with its whimsical animation style and thought-provoking storyline.
TW: http://twitter.com/SUGARCUBEmovie
IG: http://instagram.com/SUGARCUBEthemovie
FB: https://facebook.com/SUGARCUBEthemovie
#sugarcubeflim #sugarcubethemovie #sugarcubemovie #sugarcubetrailer
TRAILER:
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0 Doppelgänger
Doppelgänger
World Premiere
Director: Sarvan Singh
Duration: 10 min 47
Synopsis
Dopple-ganger is a worldwide phenomenon originating in Germany it means that a person has physically seen themselves in the same reality.
The film questions the previous theories of this paranormal event through a university professor whom has been seeing his dopple-ganger for years.
Director: Sarvan Singh
Sarvan Singh is a Writer, Producer, and Director. He is operating Dalewood Productions since 2010
Sarvan Singh has always enjoyed filmmaking. In fact, by the time he was 4 years old, he had already been acting in student films . Soon afterwards Sarvan Singh began writing, filming and directing his own films. Now he is a 2008 graduate from the Toronto Film School; a Film Director for Dalewood Productions, Music Video Director for Planet Recordz and Producer at Sunshine Films.
“I got into this line of business when I was 11 years old when my mother was producing her first feature film. I would sneak onto the editing computers late at night, and edit my own version of the film. I would quickly delete all history and my work… so no one would find out. Eventually I started editing clips I found on the internet”.
“My favourite part of being a filmmaker is telling exciting, meaningful stories, because it allows me to express my views and beliefs.” “Making a film is almost a surreal experience, like playing a sport and your in the final quarter. It takes a lot of mental stress to make a movie and can be exhausting emotionally and physically. I treat my audience with a great deal of respect, I put everything into every film I make and don’t take for granted how lucky I am to be doing this for a living.”
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0 MUSIC VIDEO: Shooting Star
Brand new Music Video from Senthil Vinu
Shooting Star
World Premiere
Artist: Xavier Rojas
Director: Senthil Vinu
Director: Senthil Vinu
Senthil Vinu is a producer and director, known for Waiting for Summer (2012) Happy Birthday Anna (2010) and A Gun & a Ring (2013).
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0 MUSIC VIDEO: T5 aka Terminal 5
T5 aka Terminal 5
ARTISTS: Swet Shop Boys
Director: Sofian Khan
The first of two music videos produced for Riz Ahmed and Himanshu Suri’s group Swet Shop Boys.
Director: Sofian Khan
Sofian is the founder of Capital K Pictures— a New York-based production company focusing on documentary work. His shorts have appeared on PBS, The Documentary Channel, Fusion Network, The Atlantic and Huffington Post. He recently won best film in the 2015 Fusion Doc Challenge with his short ‘Timeshifters’.
His first feature, The Dickumentary (2014)— a definitive history of the penis from its evolution millions of years ago, to today— was acquired by Breaking Glass Pictures in the US, and made its festival premiere at the Atlanta Film Festival. His second feature, Gaucho del Norte (2015), was released shortly after, co-directed with producing partner Andrés Caballero. The film was a Jerome Foundation grant recipient, about South American shepherds who are recruited to work in the American west, and was acquired by PBS for its America ReFramed series. Gaucho del Norte made its TV premiere in January and its festival premiere a month later at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival.
Sofian and Andrés are currently at work on another feature ‘The Interpreter’ for which they received the MacArthur Documentary Grant.
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0 MUSIC VIDEO: ‘I Got a Love’
Artist: Noyz ft. Vaishnavi Yogendran
Director: Majestic Films
‘I Got a Love’ and features rhymes by Noyz with vocals by Vaishnavi Yogendran. Produced Dusty Loops.
Video was shot by Majestic Films.
‘I Got a Love’ will be featured on Noyz’s next album entitled Lo Fi Glory which will be entirely produced by Dusty Loops.
The theme of the video is a prom for grown ups.
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0 Taken to the Cleaner
Taken to the Cleaner
Canadian Premiere
Director: Will Sankhla
Duration: 6 Minutes
Synopsis:
A man tries to woo his dry cleaning lady with the help of his young friend.
Director: Will Sankhla
Born and raised in India, Will Sankhla studied theatre and philosophy in the United States. He is a recipient of a Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program Grant.
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0 Product
Product
Director: Ash Varma
Duration: 8 Minutes
Synopsis: 2 Guys are trapped in a deja vu and they cannot seem to get out … until …
Director: Ash Varma
Director: Ashish has been making short films for many years now. Ashish has 2 films (Product and Almost Nice) at Filmi 2016. He has had a very productive year creating many shorts and web series. Ashish has written his first full length film and is in the process of developing that film.
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0 Almost Nice
Almost Nice
World Premiere
Director: Ash Varma
Duration: 4 Minutes
Synopsis: Sometimes its hard to be a nice guy
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0 Silence Radio
Silence Radio
Canadian Premiere
Director: Kartik Singh
Duration: 15 Minutes
Synopsis:
Nayla hosts a jazz radio show at her university. One day, a man from her past asks her to appear on the show to talk about the political situation in their home country. She refuses his request, but this choice will have consequences.
Director: Kartik Singh
Kartik Singh loves telling stories of underdogs and unlikely heroes. He brings to his work the perspective of a triple culture. Born in the United States to Indian Sikh parents, he has spent half his life in Paris, where he earned an MFA from the Sorbonne.
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0 Bad Egg
Bad Egg
World Premiere
Director: Aditi J. Mody
Duration: 8 Minutes
SYNOPSIS:
Gaiya decides to leave Mo this rainy day, but over a breakfast of eggs, we realize how they both are stuck in a rotten romance of their own device
Director: Aditi J. Mody
Aditi Mody is a 2nd year candidate in the Graduate
Masters in Fine Arts in Film Production at NYU Tisch
School of Arts . Having grown up in Mumbai, she
realized her need to tell stories about the unique and
quirky characters that filled the strange city. This passion
grew as she broke away from the conventional idea of
joining her father’s business to searching for any means
to tell a story; whether it be a commercial for a boutique
hotel or a short film about a prostitute who lures her
victims in by claiming innocence. At NYU, she is further
enhancing these skills, collaborating with the next
generation of great filmmakers and adding more tools to her arsenal.
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0 MUSIC VIDEO: Follow me
0 First World Problems
FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS
Canadian Premiere
Director: Rachael Belle Myers
Duration: 4 min 52 sec
WHAT COULD POSSIBLY BE WORSE THAN BAD COFFEE?
SYNOPSIS:
Mike and Paul are two mates that meet each day in the park for a coffee and
a break from the daily grind. As they share and discuss the problems they
face in their day to day lives, they miss out on what’s happening in the world
surrounding them. Are they both too self-absorbed to see the world for what it
really is? Or will they find a way to open their eyes and appreciate the lives
they have?
DIRECTOR: Rachael Belle Myers
Rachael Belle Myers’ unique zeal for expression found a brilliant and timely
outlet through poetry, screenwriting and more recently as a filmmaker.
Rachael has written a number of screenplays and poetry where damage,
desire and sensory immersion shake the reader out of a complacent slumber
and into a deeper and darker realm of the human experience.
Rachael is the author of “Extracts from my Mind”, “Extracts from my Mind,
The Second Manifest” and “Dilemma”. After collaborating with multiple
filmmakers to bring her spoken word to the screen, Rachael started focusing
on bringing her screenplays to life and began directing and producing short
films.
Jaded Belle Productions was born and Rachael wrote, directed and produced
her first short film titled “Choice” starring Clint Facey and Helen Uskovic. The
dark approach she took to question man’s identity was well received and is a
testament to the many years of scriptwriting under Rachael’s belt.
Following her theme of questioning one’s self, Rachael wrote, directed and
produced another short film titled “First World Problems” starring Joe
Davidson and Clint Facey. The film challenges the audience’s view and
perception of their reality and deals with a number of social issues affecting
our society including homelessness. It has won Best Short Film in the Reel
Time International Online Film Festival, Best Indie Spirit Award in the Sydney
Indie Film Festival and is part of the official selection in a number of other
festivals.
Rachael was born and raised in Sydney, Australia where she still currently
resides.
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0 Old Film Songs
Old Film Song
WORLD PREMIERE
Director: Sid Sawant
Duration: 4 Minutes
Starring: Divya Nagpal & Danesh Shetty
Written by: Aditya Rawal
A mother deals with the hardships of raising her son as a single parent in India. Dealing with a set of cultural taboos a mothers journey provides insight as to some of the difficult decisions a parent has to make in order to protect and raise her kin. Simultaneously “Old Film Songs” portrays the growth of a young boy in India as he curbs the understanding of how the world works while battling the difficulties of growing up without a father.
Director: Sid Sawant
An Artist in all forms: from film to photography, screen to stage, lens to literary.
As an actor, Sid is an honours graduate of Humber College’s Acting for Film and
Television program, with aspirations for international cinemas and theatrical
stages. Prior to Humber College, Sid completed his Regional Arts diploma though
Cawthra Park, where the love for performance was developed. Sid continues to
keep a balance between film and theatre. Recent productions include award
winning independent short SUN (2015), Dowry (2015), and the Houston Worldfest
Gold Remi winner Street Soldiers (2015). Recent theatrical performances works
include Case #99 (2016), Dance Like A Man (2014), Seven Steps Around The Fire
(2013) and Taj (2011), which was a part of the LuminaTO Theatre festival. Sid’s
efforts in the arts have been recognized with his winning of the Marty for Emerging Theatre in 2016. This is the first of many successes for this aspiring actor with upcoming releases internationally. Behind the scenes Sid works in a variety of departments in both film and theatre. His knowledge as a photographer has moved into cinematography, right into lighting design and sound production for both mediums. His love for technology and new innovations has currently landed him a position at Playfight VFX, one of the leading Visual Effects studios in Canada. Sid makes his directorial debut in the independent short Old Film Songs. A new journey for Sid has begun working more on production level while retaining his artistic roots on the performance side. Sid Sawant’s passion for the arts stems from his family and he is grateful for their continued support.
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0 Hot Air
HOT AIR
World Premiere
Director: Shetu Modi
Duration: 5 Minutes
Synopsis: A teenage girl’s fascination with the flute-playing Hindu god Krishna sparks a desire in her to master the same instrument. But she is easily distracted whenever she tries to practise.
Director: Shetu Modi
Shetu Modi is a writer, director and editor based in Toronto. Her short documentary Deflowering Bollywood screened at Filmi in 2006. She is currently working on her second short fiction film, “The Pits,” and also works as a video editor at the Canadian Press.
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0 OPENING NIGHT FILM ‘SCRATCH’
FILMI 2016
OPENING NIGHT FILM
Friday December 2nd, 2016
‘SCRATCH’
TORONTO PREMIERE
Tickets on Sale NOW!
Synopsis:
Winner of 22 International Festival Awards.
A female rookie armoured truck guard is caught between her co-workers plot to rob their own truck, and greedy gangsters desperate to grab the cash.
Directors Bio:
Maninder Chana is a critically acclaimed, award-winning writer and director. His action heist film Scratch is currently playing film festivals. In just a few months on the circuit, Scratch has won 22 international awards, including 7 for Best Film and 4 for Best Director. It will be released this winter.
Maninder’s four-language feature Little Terrors, about child jihadists, starring Bollywood legend Om Puri (Gandhi, The Hundred-Foot Journey) was released theatrically fall of 2014 to rave reviews. The Toronto Star hailed it as “An accomplished cinematic work that will resonate long into the future.” It also won Best Film and Best Director awards at film festivals. The supernatural thriller he penned, Cell 213, also had a theatrical release. That film starred Eric Balfour (24, Six Feet Under), Michael Rooker (Walking Dead, Guardians of the Galaxy) and Bruce Greenwood (Star Trek).
Maninder has also produced three other features, two of which will be released early next year.
Other selected credits: his hit comedy troupe Mixed Nuts; directing the national television special Fade to Brown; an epic six-hour science-fiction series for radio, Sectarian Wave; and an action short, Fuku, with members of Jackie Chan’s stunt team. That film won two best film awards. He is also the author of a short story collection, Gunga Din Lite & Other Delights (of Lust and Comedy).
TRAILER
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0 SHORT: Sebatian
“SEBATIAN”
Writer/Producer – James Fanizza
Director – Rickey Bryant
Synopsis: Alex has just met the love of his life who is leaving to go back home to Argentina forever. Rationally, Alex knows that a relationship is impossible, but in his last ten minutes with Sebastian, will he let him go or take a chance on love?
From Director Rickey Bryant:
Sometimes, the opportunity of love will come into our lives at very inopportune times. We are faced with the challenge of making very quick but life changing decisions-with no guarantee. If we don’t accept this opportunity, we live with regret of what could have been. If we show up for love, our lives are then happier for taking the risk. But what happens when you wait to accept love’s offer? With James Fanizza’s masterfully written script and acting prowess, I was able to present this question in a simple but, inventive way with Sebastian.
We used a stop light backlight theme in each scene that fits the emotion of the two characters. Shooting the film in the downtown Toronto area provided a delightful clutter around a clear-cut conflict. Thanks to the professional, collaborative group brought together by James and I, we succeeded in creating a very concise, but emotional film-start to finish.
Writer James Fanizza says:
“Sebastian is a very personal story for me and, when writing the movie, I wanted to make sure I was true to my own experience while at the same time creating something filmic and enjoyable to watch. I also wanted to make a queer love story that emphasized romance and universality; a story that any viewer could identify with and relate to.
I had developed the script for quite some time with various industry professionals and then, quite suddenly, I received a generous grant from ACTRA Toronto to make the film happen. I brought my good friend, Rickey Bryant, on board to direct the film and from our first meeting, I knew it was going to be a success. He had such a vision for the movie and such an understanding of the characters. He wanted to find a way to film exactly what the script was: a simple love story between two people. He definitely succeeded and I couldn’t be more proud of the work we created together.”
Director:
This is James Fanizza and Rickey Bryant’s first venture into filmmaking. James is an actor and writer, originally from Toronto and Rickey is a director, originally from Buffalo, NY.
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0 FEATURE: Little Terrors
LITTLE TERRORS
DIRECTOR: Maninder Chana
CANADIAN FEATURE FILM SERIES
Synopsis:
A 13-year-old American boy is recruited by terrorists to bomb a U.S. embassy in Delhi. After being brainwashed he is sent to live with a Muslim family prior to the attack. However, the man harboring him begins to play a dangerous game when he attempts to convince the boy not to go through with the bombing.
Toronto Star Review: http://tinyurl.com/pj2xq5d
A short film will screen prior to the feature film: My Brother Karim
DIRECTOR:
Maninder Chana is an award-winning writer, producer and director.
He is currently in post-production on a heist film called Scratch. His four-language feature Little Terrors was just released theatrically to rave reviews this September across Canada. The cast includes Bollywood legend Om Puri (Gandhi, City of Joy, East is East). His supernatural thriller Cell 213, also had a theatrical release in 2011. That film stars Eric Balfour (Skyline), Michael Rooker (Waking Dead) and Bruce Greenwood (Star Trek). And he produced another feature, Mystic, a sci-fi that had a year-long run on the SuperChannel.
This past year, Maninder optioned two television shows, including a comedy with Tom Cavanagh (Ed, Providence, Eli Stone, Scrubs, Royal Pains).Maninder has a long comedy history beginning with his days as the driving force behind Mixed Nuts. The troupe played sold out shows and earned him several award nominations.
Other selected credits: directing the national television special Fade to Brown; an epic six-hour science-fiction series for radio, Sectarian Wave; and an action short, Fuku, with members of Jackie Chan’s stunt team. That film won two best film awards. He is also a published author with an acclaimed short story collection, Gunga Din Lite & Other Delights (of Lust and Comedy).
21st Filmi: Toronto's South Asian Film Festival 2021 