** Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film**
WRITING WITH FIRE
Filmmakers: Rintu Thomas (Co-Director, Producer) and Sushmit Ghosh (Co-Director, Producer)
Approximate running time: 60 mins.

ABOUT THE DOCUMENTARY

In a media landscape dominated by men, the women journalists of India’s all-female Khabar Lahariya (“News Wave”) newspaper risk it all, including their own safety, to cover the country’s political, social, and local news from a women-powered perspective. From underground network to independent media empire—now with 10 million views on their YouTube site—they defy the odds to redefine power.

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

Rintu Thomas is an award-winning director-producer, whose debut feature documentary, Writing With Fire, won two awards at Sundance ’21 and is a NYT Critics Pick. A 2021 IDA Courage Under Fire Award honoree, Rintu is also an IDA Logan Elevate grantee and a Sundance Fellow.

Sushmit Ghosh is an award-winning director, cinematographer who co-founded Black Ticket Films, a film company invested in the power of storytelling. Sushmit’s debut feature documentary Writing With Fire is a double Sundance award winner. Sushmit is a 2021 IDA Courage Under Fire Award Honoree and a Sundance Fellow.

INDEPENDENT LENS, the award-winning PBS documentary anthology series presented by ITVS, will premiere “Writing with Fire” for its U.S. broadcast debut on March 28, 2022, at 11:00 p.m. CT (check local listings). The film will also be available on the PBS Video app

- - - -

UNLIKELY FAN
Filmmakers: Jeff Bednarz, Sai Selvarajan
Approximate running time: 8 mins.

ABOUT THE DOCUMENTARY SHORT
She’s a Sri Lankan born, Dallas-based, retired teacher and mother. She’s also crazy about basketball. Meet “The Unlikely Fan” who knows a thing or two about hoops.

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
Sai Selvarajan Sri Lankan born, Dallas-based, retired teacher….and hoops nut. Meet “The Unlikely Fan,” a basketball enthusiast who definitely doesn’t fit any preconceived image. This multimedia documentary is an ode to the power of sport to rally and inspire, to see the art of passing, dribbling, and shooting as balletic, and to share that appreciation with your loved ones. Especially when your loved one is the mother of all b-ball fans.