NRI FILMMAKER, NISHA PAHUJA SELECTED TO PARTICIPATE IN REVAMPED NFB/CFC CREATIVE DOC LAB
Toronto, Canada Aug 23, 2015
NRIpress-Club/Ssingh/Mr. Gabhi/LA Gary Singh
The Canadian Film Centre (CFC) and the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) selected four distinguished filmmakers- Nisha Pahuja, Josephine Anderson, Noam Gonick, and Pablo Alvarez-Mesa to participate in the NFB/CFC Creative Doc Lab.
CFC- The Canadian Film Centre is a leader in mentoring content creators and entrepreneurs in the entertainment and digital media landscapes. Founded by iconic Canadian filmmaker Norman Jewison as a film school in 1988 and more than 1,600 alumni and over 100 alumni partner companies create and produce popular, award-winning entertainment enjoyed by audiences around the world. By promoting the development of new ideas, production and best practices in film, television, digital media, music and acting, we are uniquely positioned within Canada’s vital and diverse screen entertainment industry.
In 2012, Nisha Pahuja produced a multi award-winning film “The World Before Her” which explored the diverse lifestyles of Women competing to become Miss India and juxtaposing it with Hindu Nationalists fighting for their beliefs.
Nisha Pahuja, writer/artist/director, Independent Canadian Filmmaker and an Emmy-nominated filmmaker is based in Toronto and Bombay. Her credits include Diamond Road (2007 Gemini Award for Best Documentary Series) Bollywood Bound (2001 Gemini nominee), and the multi award-winning The World Before Her (TIFF Canada Top Ten 2012; Best Documentary Feature, 2012 Tribeca Film Festival; Best Canadian Feature, Hot Docs 2012; Sundance Film Forward 2014), a film about women’s rights in India, which has screened at more than 130 film festivals worldwide, became the highest grossing documentary to release in India and was called the most important Indian film of 2014 by many Indian critics. Pahuja’s short film for Global News’ 16×9 on the Delhi Gang rape, “Indian Bus Outrage,” was the recipient of Amnesty International Canada’s 2014 Media Awards for Audio/Video Award – Short Form. Most recently, she was invited to be a Resident Fellow at the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Centre where she began developing her long-term project, a series on global fundamentalisms…(CFC)
Nisha Pahuja was born in New Delhi and raised in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She moved from India to Canada with her family when she was a child. She was constantly exposed to Hindi films and liked the roles that they offered Indian girls growing up in a Western context. She has always wanted to influence positive change and be a part of projects that benefit humanity which is reflected through the main themes of many of her films. She got into film through studying English lit and working in social services.
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India-born filmmaker to participate in Toronto film lab
Toronto, Aug 21, 2015: (IANS) India-born Canadian filmmaker Nisha Pahuja, known for her 2012 documentary “The World Before Her”, is excited to take part in the “fabulous” National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and the Canadian Film Centre (CFC) Creative Doc Lab with her new film on Indian masculinity.
The NFB and the CFC announced on Thursday that four distinguished filmmakers including Pahuja have been selected to participate in the NFB/CFC Creative Doc Lab, read cfccreates.com.
The other filmmakers are Josephine Anderson, Noam Gonick, and Pablo Alvarez-Mesa.
The Creative Doc Lab is a creative and marketplace catalyst focused on cultivating creative risk-taking and helping to further establish Canadians as world-class documentary storytellers.
Building on the success of the first two documentary programmes presented by the CFC and the NFB, the refreshed lab embraces the changes within the world of feature documentaries, reaffirming the organisations’ approach and commitment to the art of feature documentary storytelling.
“We were overwhelmed with exceptionally strong candidates this year – a testament to the growing doc talent in our country, which made the final selection very difficult for the jury,” said Anita Lee, executive producer, NFB and Creative Doc Lab Advisor.
“My esteemed colleagues on the jury represented expertise in each key area of filmmaking and industry. Final decisions were made weighing both talent and the project’s potential to meet the aspirations of the lab.”
The four filmmakers have been selected to engage in an inspiring and rigorous creative development process with their respective projects over the course of the next eight months.
Pahuja’s “Send Us Your Brother” explores the complexity of being a man in India today; struggling between the old and the new, tradition and modernity, India’s sons are starting to question who and what they are.
“Ok so it’s now official! I’ve been selected to take part in the fabulous NFB/CFC creative doc lab with my new film…about Indian masculinity,” Pahuja tweeted on Thursday.
Anderson’s “The Third Movement” is a feature documentary that follows world-renowned classical pianist Sara Davis Buechner as she sets out to prove to the world that she is still worth attention. Sara, born David, was 37 years old when she transitioned from male to female. Within a year, Sara’s slate of more than 50 concert bookings diminished to two. Now 55 and living in Canada, with a career that has never quite reached its full potential, Sara is determined to establish her artistic legacy.
Gonick’s “Amber” is the story of a complex double kidnapping that examines gender, race, consent and culpability on the Canadian prairies.
Alvarez-Mesa’s “Chrononauts” is a feature-length creative documentary that observes the every day of four living time travellers as they deal with the challenges of being stuck in our shared present.
The lab officially begins here in early September and will consist of group sessions, peer-to-peer collaboration, and individual project mentorship from some of Canada’s and the world’s top documentary filmmaking professionals and industry leaders.
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