Sarvnik Kaur dokumentumfilm-készítő olyan történeteket igyekszik elmondani, amelyek a „normális” és „hétköznapi” felszín alatt megbúvó feszültséget és konfliktusokat fedik fel . Első egész estés dokumentumfilmje, A Ballad of Maladies, a kasmíri politikai ellenállás hagyományát vizsgálja olyan költők, zenészek és képzőművészek alkotásain keresztül, akik a fokozott állami elnyomás és erőszak fémjelezte időszakokban művészetüket az ellenállás fegyverévé tették. A filmet nem engedték bemutatni az állami hálózaton, ugyanakkor 2017-ben a legjobb dokumentumfilm díját nyerte a 64. Indiai Nemzeti Filmszemlén, a legjobb film díját a dél-ázsiai filmes biennálén és a legjobb dokumentumfilm díját a 10. IDSFF Keralán. A rendező az Árral szemben című film forgatásakor három évet élt Mumbaiban a koli halászok között. Több ösztöndíjat kapott a Sundance Film Fundtól, a Catapult Film Fundtól, az IDFA Berthától, a San Francisco Film Fundtól, az AlterCine Foundationtól és a HotDocs Crosscurrents Internationaltől. Ösztöndíjas volt továbbá a Hot Docs Accelerator Labnél, az IDFA Academyn és a Chicken & Egg Eggcelerator Labsnál.

Sarvnik Kaur is a documentary filmmaker who strives to tell stories that hide the tension and conflict just beneath the surface of the “normal” and “mundane.”’ Her first feature documentary, A Ballad of Maladies, explores the tradition of political resistance in Kashmir through the work of those poets, musicians, and artists who have turned their art into weapons of resistance during periods of heightened state repression and violence in the region. The film was banned from broadcast on the national network, but it won India’s 64th National Film Award for Best First Non-Feature Film in 2017, Best Film at the 11th biennial Film South Asia, and Best Documentary at the 10th IDSFF Kerala. She has spent three years with the Kolis of Bombay, developing her documentary Against the Tide. She is a recipient of multiple grants from the Sundance Film Fund, Catapult Film Fund, IDFA Bertha, San Francisco Film Fund, AlterCine Foundation, and HotDocs Crosscurrents International. She has also been a fellow at Hot Docs Accelerator Lab, IDFA Academy, and the Chicken & Egg Eggcelerator Labs.

Shaunak Sen is a filmmaker and film scholar based in New Delhi, India. Cities of Sleep (2016), his first feature-length documentary, was shown at major international film festivals (including DOK Leipzig, DMZ Docs and the Taiwan International Documentary Festival), and won six international awards. Shaunak received the IDFA Bertha Fund (2019), the Sundance Documentary Grant (2019), the Catapult Film Fund (2020), the Charles Wallace Grant, the Sarai CSDS Digital Media Fellowship (2014), and the Films Division of India Fellowship (2013). He was also a visiting scholar at Cambridge University (2018), and has published academic articles in Bioscope, Widescreen and other journals.

Rintu Thomas is an award-winning director-producer from India whose work is supported by the Sundance Institute, Chicken & Egg Pictures, IDFA, SFF Film Fund, Doc Society, Tribeca Institute, Finnish Film Foundation and Bertha Foundation, among others. Over the last 10 years, Rintu’s films have been used as advocacy tools for social impact, included in the curriculum of universities and exhibited globally in spaces such as the United Nations Climate Change Conference and The Lincoln Center for Performing Arts – becoming catalysts for new conversations. A Sundance and Japan Foundation fellow, Rintu lives between New Delhi and a quaint mountain-town in North India.