Professional Experiences and Filmography

Honors and Professional Experience

2023-2024: Maryland State Arts Council  Independent Artist Award.

2022-2023: Three Sisters Play, Written & Directed by Suneeta Misra, and produced by Natyabharati. Selected by the South Asian Theater Festival in NJ and staged in September 2023.

2021-2022: The play “Three Sisters” was performed at the Jewish Community Center (JCC) of Greater Washington, in April 2022, under the sponsorship of Natyabharati.

2021-2022:  Received a Puffin Foundation Grant for the short film “Crazy Bird Lady”

2018-2024: Received consecutive Arts & Humanities Council of Montgomery County (AHCMC) grant awards for making two short films; “Looking for Mr. Right,” for “Crazy Bird Lady,” and a theatrical Play: Three Sisters. I recently got another AHCMC grant for the 2024-2025 fiscal year for developing a script for a play and a short film, “Retribution.”

2008: Coordinator of South Asians for Senator Obama. Organized DC-wide fundraiser to raise funds for Obama's presidential campaign. 

 

Filmmaking Experience and Awards

1. Completed a short film “The Old Man and the Boy,” in 2022, which explores the relationship between an autistic boy from the slums of Mumbai and an embittered old man who has lost all hope in life. It has received the best short film Award at The Global Music and Film Festival, Virginia, in 2022, best short film directed by a female at the Grassroots Film festival, the Indo-French Film Festival and the Moving Film Festival in India in 2023, and was officially screened at numerous other international film festivals.

2. Wrote and Directed a play, “Three Sisters,” in 2022. It is an adaptation of Chekhov’s play of the same name, and was produced by “Natyabharati,” a South Asian Community Theater organization, and performed at the JCC in Rockville, Maryland, in April 2022. Here is a review of the play published in a local online magazine https://www.americanbazaaronline.com/2022/04/26/natya-bharatis-three-sisters-chekhov-tale-with-desi-flavor-449402/

3. Wrote and directed the short film “The Crazy Bird Lady” in 2021. This film looks at the issues of depression and loneliness during the recent pandemic within the South Asian immigrant community. It was funded by AHCMC and the Puffin Foundation. The film was an official selection at 16 film festivals and won the best short film award in the Women Film Maker category at the Best Shorts Competition (2021), the best Drama Short at the Europe Film Festival (2021), the best Asian Film at the Shiny Sparkle Film Festival (2022). and was a semifinalist in the short fiction section at the International Moving Film Festival (2022). It also received an honorable mention at the Australia Film Festival (2022), the ADIFF- Actor and Director Awards (2021) and selected to be screened at the Cannes Shorts (2021).

4. Wrote and directed a short film called “Looking for Mr. Right,” in 2018, which was an official selection at the DC South Asian Film Festival, in Rockville, Maryland, and at the Delhi International Film Festival, 2018. It was selected as the best short film of North and South America in 2018 at the Nuren Film Festival and it was a semifinalist at the Utah Film festival in 2019. It was also a nominee at the online “Shorted” film festival. The film was funded by a grant from AHCMC and it also received funds via a crowd funding campaign that I spearheaded. It explored the trials and tribulations of modern dating in the US South Asian community. It was streamed on the Disney Plus/Hotstar channel in India in 2022-2023.

5. Wrote and directed, “Birds in Flight” in 2017. It was officially selected for the DC South Asian Film Festival, the Delhi International Film Festival, The Ooty International Film Festival, 2017, and the Jaipur International Film Festival, 2018. It was also selected as a semifinalist at The Moving Pictures Film Festival, 2017, and the San Mauro Film Festival, 2018,

6. Wrote and directed the short film “A Good Match,” 2014, which won awards for the best short film at DC South Asian Film Festival, 2014, the Chennai International Short Film Festival, Ahmednagar Short Film Festival, and the Ooty Short Film Festival, 2015.

7. Directed a Pilot TV Episode: “Sherlock Sai,” 2013, which was streamed on Asia TV and on a Youtube streaming channel.

8. Directed a Documentary: “Tinka Tinka: A Dream of Education in Modern India,” which was sponsored by the Institute for Global Education, Equality of Opportunity, and Prosperity (IGEP) in 2011. The film was officially selected for screening at the DC South Asian Film Festival, Washington DC, 2012, and at Worldkids International Film Festival, Mumbai, 2012.

9. Edited a Film for Montgomery County Media, “A Life Well-Lived,” 2012.

10. Wrote and directed the Screenplay for a Short Film: “A Dream for Change: Artist Anu Das,” 2013, Montgomery County Media.MD.