For the Love of Directing [Film Festival Masterclass]

Event Details:
Date: Sunday, March 7th
Time: 4pm PT / 7pm ET
Duration: 1 hr
Location on the Festival Map: ‘The Hall’
Speakers: Lena Khan
In partnership with South Asians In Entertainment

This Session
Best Practices in Directing with the director of newly released Disney's Flora & Ulysses

Speaker Bio
A writer and director, Lena debuted her first longform movie  The Tiger Hunter in 2016. The film, starring Danny Pudi,  Karen David and Jon Heder, follows an Muslim-Indian  immigrant on his journey to discover where he fits in 1970s  America.  

February 19 was the release of Lena’s first film she directed  for Disney, Flora & Ulysses - based on Kate DiCamillo’s  Newbery-winning book. The film stars actors Ben Schwartz,  Bobby Moynihan, Danny Pudi, Alyson Hannigan and theater  actress Matilda Lawler as 10-year-old Flora. 

Lena is currently directing multiple episodes of the Netflix’s  hit series by Mindy Kaping, Never Have I Ever, starring  Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Poorna Jagannathan and Richa  Moorjani.  

Lena gained experience at companies like Participant Media  (Syriana, The Kite Runner) before focusing on directing her  own work. She has directed commercials, films and music  videos for international artists such as Maher Zain and her  videos have been broadcast on TV across the world and  received over 20 million hits on YouTube.  

Lena graduated summa cum laude from the prestigious  UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, after which she  spent years gaining experience at renowned film companies.  Lena has gained extensive knowledge of what qualities a film  needs to be successful, and brings those aspects into co writing and directing The Tiger Hunter.  

Lena has been profiled in USA Today, Teen Vogue, The New  York Times, and various other media outlets; won Sony  Entertainment Television’s South Asian Excellence Award for contributions to entertainment, and now dedicates  herself to making films that call attention to social issues  through fun and engaging entertainment.

About South Asians In Entertainment (SAIE)
SAIE (and it’s womxn-forward community, South Asian Women In Entertainment SAWIE) are dedicated to using the voices of South Asian’s in entertainment and their experiences, knowledge and power to uplift each other and the next generation of talent in the entertainment industry through education, partnership, and mentorship.

About The South Asian Film Fest of America
Showcasing diversity, creativity and a multi hyphenated identity, the South Asian Film Festival of America (#southasianfilmfest) is an international screening and awards platform for South Asians to showcase their films and digital work. We're a culture-impact film festival for the new generation of South Asian creatives to share their experiences and narratives through feature films, short films, web-series, and music videos with global audiences. We welcome stories from and inclusive of individuals with South Asian heritage, the diaspora, immigrants, and from the sub-continent itself.

**This event is included in the following tickets:
South Asian Film Fest [All Masterclasses]
South Asian Film Fest [ALL Screenings + Q&As + Masterclasses]

From Idea to Sale (and beyond): The Screenwriter's Journey with Bash and Nabil [Film Festival Masterclass]

Event Details
Date: Saturday, March 6th

Time: 4pm PT / 7pm ET

Duration: 1.5 hrs
Location on the Festival Map: ‘The Hall’

Speakers: Bash Naran and Nabil Chowdhary
In partnership with The Salon

This Session
Join Nabil Chowdhary (Black List screenwriter) and his manager, Bash Naran, as they discuss workflow, the creative journey, and the ins and outs of a career in screenwriting.

Speaker Bios
Nabil Chowdhary
Born and raised in the UK and of Pakistani descent, Nabil is a screenwriter and director. His sci-fi feature script “POD” appeared on the 2019 Black List. He is represented by Bash Naran at Writ-Large Management and David Boxerbaum and Sara Nestor at Verve Talent and Literary Agency. He currently lives in Melbourne Australia and is developing several projects in LA.
Twitter: @nabilchowdhary
Instagram: @nabilchowdhary
Website: www.nabilchowdhary.com

Bash Naran
Bash Naran is a literary manager & producer at Writ Large where he represents a diverse roster of writers, directors, producers and documentarians. His clients have been nominated and or won Academy Awards, Emmys, BAFTAs, and WGA Awards, amongst others. His clients’ projects have premiered and/or screened at Sundance, Tribeca, SXSW, Venice, Cannes, and many more. In film & television, his clients have worked with major & independent studios and networks including Netflix, Amazon, Apple, A24, Warner Bros., HBO, Marvel, and Imagine Entertainment, amongst several others. Prior to his work at Writ Large, Bash was at Plattform and CAA, and before entertainment, he was a successful start-up executive in New York City, where he’s also proud to be from! Outside of his work at Writ Large, Bash is the co-founder of The Salon, a forum for South Asian artists & executives to connect, collaborate, and share resources. The organization works to accelerate the creative development of South Asian-American film & television through community organizing and empowerment.
Website: www.writ-large.com & www.thesalon.xyz
Handles: @bashnaran (Instagram + twitter + clubhouse)

About The Salon
The Salon is a forum for South Asian artists and executives in entertainment to connect and collaborate, share resources, facilitate mentorship, drive public advocacy, and disburse grants. Founded in 2019 by Nik Dodani, Bash Naran, and Vinny Chhibber, The Salon’s mission is to accelerate the creative development of South Asian-American television and film through community organizing and empowerment.

About The South Asian Film Fest of America
Showcasing diversity, creativity and a multi hyphenated identity, the South Asian Film Festival of America (#southasianfilmfest) is an international screening and awards platform for South Asians to showcase their films and digital work. We're a culture-impact film festival for the new generation of South Asian creatives to share their experiences and narratives through feature films, short films, web-series, and music videos with global audiences. We welcome stories from and inclusive of individuals with South Asian heritage, the diaspora, immigrants, and from the sub-continent itself. SAFFA is funded by Product of Culture, a WOC founded and funded collective that amplifies brown brands and creatives with strategy, content, and experiences rooted in culture.

**This event is included in the following tickets:
South Asian Film Fest [All Masterclasses]
South Asian Film Fest [ALL Screenings + Q&As + Masterclasses]

Development to Distribution [Film Festival Masterclass]

Event Details:
Date: Sunday, February 28th
Time: 4pm PT / 7pm ET
Duration: 1.5 hrs
Location: The Hall
Speaker: Ameet Shukla
In partnership with South Asians In Entertainment

This Session
Seeing your project come together can be an exciting time for any producer but as momentum gains and more voices become part of the project, a producer’s job changes from selling the project to protecting the creative integrity. Ameet will outline helpful tips for producers to best protect a filmmaker's original concept from the start of development through release.

Speaker Bio
Ameet Shukla is a film producer and the President of Production for MAS Production, a Los Angeles based film and television production company. His interest in film began at the age of 15 when tasked with editing Spike Lee’s 102 minute film 4 Little Girls into a 5 minute clip for a county-wide forum on diversity, tolerance, and acceptance. It was this moment when he learned just how influential the mediums of film and television were for generating positivity.

He recently produced Cold Pursuit starring Liam Neeson, alongside his producing mentor, Michael Shamberg. The film is a darkly comedic action film featuring a large number of First Nations cast members in roles that deviate from traditional stereotypical images.

In 2016 he served as Executive Producer on Freeheld starring Julianne Moore and Elliot Page. Freeheld is based on the true story of Laurel Hester and Stacie Andree, a New Jersey police lieutenant and her domestic partner, who fought against local government officials to secure Laurel's pension benefits after she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was released the same year marriage equality was won in the United States. 

In 2014, Shukla Co-Produced Wish I Was Here starring Zach Braff, Kate Hudson, Josh Gad and Joey King.
The film was Zach Braff’s feature follow-up to his highly acclaimed film Garden State and raised over $3.1M from over 46,000 backers on Kickstarter. The film centers on a struggling actor who finds himself at a major crossroad in life causing him to turn to his faith and reexamine what it means to be a father, son, and husband. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and earned a Gotham Award nomination for Joey King as Best Breakthrough Actor. 

Prior to that, he served as the Vice President of Production at Double Feature Films under the guidance of Shamberg and prolific producer, Stacey Sher. During his tenure, Double Feature Films produced Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion starring Matt Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow, Quentin Tarantino’s Oscar-winning film Django Unchained with Jamie Foxx and Kerry Washington, Scott Frank’s A Walk Among the Tombstones starring Liam Neeson and Dan Stevens, Runner Runner with Justin Timberlake and Ben Affleck, and Get a Job starring Bryan Cranston, Miles Teller, and Anna Kendrick, and the AMC series Into the Badlands. 
Shukla is a member of OUT in Hollywood a coalition of LGBTQIA+ development executives and producers with an aim to propel exceptional projects on screen in order to uplift and amplify marginalized perspectives and increase authentic representation both behind and in front of the camera. Shukla is also a part of The Salon, an alliance of Hollywood professionals with the common goal of South Asian advocacy in the film & television industries and to increase South Asian representation throughout all facets of the entertainment industry. 

Shukla is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara Film Studies program where he got his start in film as the cinematographer for an award-winning stop motion animated short, The Dancing Llama, centering on a talented dancing llama who must overcome a debilitating spitting problem before a major dance competition. 

About South Asians In Entertainment (SAIE)
SAIE (and it’s womxn-forward community, South Asian Women In Entertainment SAWIE) are dedicated to using the voices of South Asian’s in entertainment and their experiences, knowledge and power to uplift each other and the next generation of talent in the entertainment industry through education, partnership, and mentorship.

About The South Asian Film Fest of America
Showcasing diversity, creativity and a multi hyphenated identity, the South Asian Film Festival of America (#southasianfilmfest) is an international screening and awards platform for South Asians to showcase their films and digital work. We're a culture-impact film festival for the new generation of South Asian creatives to share their experiences and narratives through feature films, short films, web-series, and music videos with global audiences. We welcome stories from and inclusive of individuals with South Asian heritage, the diaspora, immigrants, and from the sub-continent itself.

**This event is included in the following tickets:
South Asian Film Fest [All Masterclasses]
South Asian Film Fest [ALL Screenings + Q&As + Masterclasses]