|
 
Shalini Kantayya, filmmaker, educator, and activist, uses film/video
as a tool to educate, inspire, and empower audiences. Shalini
believes in making films that spark positive social change. The
mission of her production company, 7th Empire Media, is to bring
a professional voice to the unheard through media. Shalini finished
in the top 10 out of 12,000 filmmakers on FOX's On the Lot,
a reality show by Steven Spielberg and Mark Burnett dedicated
to the search for Hollywood's next great director. A William
D. Fulbright Scholar in documentary film, her work received the
first prize award for Best Documentary at the Asian American Film
Festival.
Shalini's work has received acclaim from several top Hollywood
directors, including Garry Marshall (Pretty Woman), Michael
Bay (Transformers), and Mark Waters (Mean Girls). Shalini has been making films for almost a decade, producing and
directing in over 10 countries. Her film A Drop of Life
won Best Short at Palm Beach International, Audience Choice Award
at the IUOW Film Competition, and a Crystal Dior Nomination at
Tokyo Short Shorts. She has received recognition from Jerome Hill
Foundation's Centennial Grant, the NY State Council on the Arts,
NY Women in Film & Television, and Media Action Network for
Asian Americans, among others. Shalini was nominated for the Reebok
Human Rights Award and received a Senior Performing Arts Fellowship
from the American Institute of Indian Studies to make a film about
political street theater in India. She was recently a finalist
in the Doorpost International Film Competition.
Shalini's work has featured personalities like His Holiness the
Dalai Lama, Gloria Steinem, and Goapale. Her commercial work includes
editing videos for Mariah Carey, Phil Collins, and Sting. She
has produced videos for such reputable organizations such as the
ACLU, The Center for Constitutional Rights, The Annenberg Foundation,
Link TV, and Bodies: The Exhibition. Her films have been screened
at international film festivals across the world.
Shalini received an MFA in Film Direction from the City College
of New York, and a BA in Media Studies and International Human
Rights from Hampshire College. She is currently working on a
trilogy of science-fiction feature films about that will tap all
the viral energy of youth culture to engage a new generation in
a large-scale environmental movement.
|
