Awards

Recipient of the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association’s Miller Award. Formerly: President, Osian's Connoisseurs of Art; Founder/ exec. dir. of programming, Lok Sabha TV; ADG, Doordarshan; PSBT mentor/evaluator; Associate director, Inner Path Festival of Buddhist Art, Film & Philosophy. Alumni, FTII (1966) & NSD. Jury member, EMMY awards, USA.

Festival director, Kautik International Film Festival. FTII product in cinematography, with degrees in science and law, and an MBA. He has been the chief assistant cameraman of films such as Naseem, Kabhi Pass Kabhi Fail, Choo Lenge Akash, Foto, Ek Hasina Thi, Johnny Gaddar, Naina, 3 Idiots, Ek Choti Si Love Story, and Lage Raho Munna Bhai.

National Film Award winning cinematographer. FTII batch of 1977. Phd in Cinema, Nelson Mandela Centre for Peace & Conflict Studies. Retired Professor in Cinematography, Jamia Millia Islamia. Author, book on images of violence in cinema. Served on juries of IFFI, National Film Awards & Kerala State Awards. Member, IFFI technical committee, 2006-2024.

Award-winning Spanish musician—keyboard player of the Lie Detectors band, winner of the Best Original Soundtrack Award for ‘Cirilo’ at the Videocorto Nettuno Festival, and music composer of ‘Magoado’, nominated at the International Film Festival of India. He is presently cutting an album with Spanish superstar singers.

Writes on cinema and literature in a variety of journals and newspapers, and is a Govt. of Assam & British Council teacher holding a PhD on TS Eliot. She is the granddaughter of Uday Chandra Bhagawati, a doyen and one of the pioneers of the erstwhile NE traveling drama troupes.

Former principal of LN Welingkar Institute of Management.

Voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Science (OSCAR) since 2018. Winner of a National Film Award & an Assamese State Film Award. Re-recording mixer of films such as Sam Bahadur, Brahmastra Part One: Shiva, Gangubai Kathiawadi, Kaabil, Dangal, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Krrish 3, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, & Shootout at Wadala.

Professor, & Executive Director of the Centre for Visual and Performing Arts at RV University. Worked with The Hindu for 20 years as Deputy Editor, heading the culture and education pages. Published over 1500 newspaper articles. Served as the Editor of the Karnataka Sahitya Academy literary journal, Aniketana. Edited ten books.

Philosopher. Educator. Researcher. Author of ‘Nature in Indian Philosophy and Cultural Traditions’ and ‘Sharvay: a Novel.’ Associate Professor and Program head of India Studies at the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences, RV University. Meera has conducted sessions on Indian philosophy, interfaith dialogue, gender and sexuality.

Ratan Sil Sarma is primarily a film colorist and film editor. He started out as a promo producer for such places as Network 18 (3 years), before donning the role of the production head at Focus Hifi (9 years). He presently owns his own post production company, Box Digital India. His directorial debut won the Best Children's Film at the Prag Cine Awards.

Ratnottama Sengupta, daughter of legendary scriptwriter Nabendu Ghosh, is a former arts editor of the Times of India. She’s also a film festival -curator/-panelist /-organiser; docu filmmaker; author; & book editor. She has served on CBBF; the NFDC Script Committee; the National Film Awards, & IFFI. And is a recipient of the National Film Award for Best Writing on Cinema.

Vijay Sharma is the author of 25 books, including 10 on cinema. She has written in all leading national Hindi magazines & reviewed books & films for Akashvani radio. A retired Associate Professor of Loyola College of Education, Jamshedpur, she is presently a visiting professor at Central University, & Academic Staff College, & gives lectures & write books on cinema.

Tigmanshu Dhulia is a National Film Award, Filmfare Award, and Stardust Award winning filmmaker, best known for Paan Singh Tomar and Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster. He has over 3 decades of experience as a writer-director on TV channels such as DD, Channel Four, Zee TV, Star Plus, and Sony TV. Additionally, he was the casting director of Bandit Queen, an actor in Gangs of Wasseypur, and the dialogue writer of Dil Se..

C. Umamaheswara Rao is a National Film Award and Nandi Award winning filmmaker who has served on the jury of the National Film Awards, the Indian film entry for the Oscars, the Andhra Pradesh State Awards, and the UNESCO Ladli Awards. He’s the founder of the Centre for New Perspectives in Film and Media, and is the present Chairman of the Dadasaheb Phalke School of Film and Media.

Suneel Puranik is a former chairman of the Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy, which organises the Bangalore International Film Festival. He has served on the jury of the National Film Awards and IFFI. As an actor/filmmaker, he's the recipient of several awards, including a Kempegowda Award, an Aryabhata Award, a Chitra Rasikara Prashasti Award, an Indira Priyadarshini Award, and a Karnataka State Award.

Resul Pookutty is an Oscar, BAFTA, National Film Award, Apsara (Producers Guild of India), CAS (Cinema Audio Society, USA) and Golden Reel (Motion Picture Sound Editors, USA) winning sound designer, best known for his work in Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire.

Aleksandra Biernacka is a film curator /editor /journalist, presently associated too with the Gdynia Film School. She has served on several international film juries such as the Seattle International Film Festival, and has over two decades with a TV channel collaborating with the greatest Polish film directors including Andrzej Wajda, and introducing films to the Venice Film Festival, Berlinale, and the Oscars.

Prashant Naik is a triple National Film Award film editor (Punaravritti, Shunya Swaroopa, and I am Kalam). An FTII product, he later came back as a professor in the editing department. Presently, he heads the Editing department at Subhash Ghai's Whistling Woods.

Daniela Rogobete is an Associate Professor at the University of Craiova, Romania, holding a PhD in Postcolonial Studies. Additionally, she writes, edits, and translates. Her research interests include intertextuality, aesthetics and visual culture. Her writings appear in a variety of academic journals.

Shalini Shah is the artistic director of the Kautik International Film Festival, the co-founder of the Himalayan Society for Art, Culture, Education, Environment and Film Development (HIMACEEF), and a film director/producer. Her documentary won the National Film Award for Best Historical Reconstruction/Compilation Film.

Oorvazi Irani is a film educationist, acting coach, and indie filmmaker who teaches at FTII, and Whistling Woods, and heads the film subject at the SVKM JV Parekh International School. She has conducted film workshops and appreciation classes at Mumbai University and the Russian Culture Centre.

Divya Sharman is the former Channel V in-house producer of Timex Timepass, and the First Day First Show. She was an associate director of Zameen Aasmaan, the editorial coordinator of Mirch Masala on Plus Channel, and an executive producer at Star Plus. Presently based in Europe, she interviews technicians and pioneers of Indian Cinema, and is writing two books.

Amrit Pritam is a sound designer who works closely with Resul Pookutty. Awards received: National Film Award, Apsara Producers Award, and a Golden Reel from the Motion Picture Sound Editors, USA. He's a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Simone Mariani is an actor-writer-director-producer. Awards received: Best Italian Docu at Roma CineDoc for ‘A Journey on the Tabla’, and Critics Prize at Akab Film Festival 2006 for ‘Iram, The city by the High Columns’. He recently worked as an actor in the Hollywood film “Inferno” directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks.