Meenakshi Shedde

Meenakshi Shedde, film curator, critic and filmmaker based in Mumbai, India, has a unique, distinguished and comprehensive film profile, which, along with her global influence and stature across continents, including the US, Canada, Europe, Middle East and Asia, are unrivalled in South Asia. She has served on the International Juries of 25 film festivals worldwide, including the Cannes, Berlin and Venice film festivals. She has been invited by the Golden Globe Awards as International Voter in 2022, the sole Indian selected from 103 voters in 62 nations. She won the National Film Award for Best Film Critic in 1998. She is India and South Asia Delegate to the Berlin Film Festival, pre-selecting films since 1998. She celebrated her 25th year working with the Berlinale in February 2023. She is an independent Curator/Programmer to film festivals worldwide. Widely seen as playing a key leadership role in promoting Indian and South Asian cinema as a whole, she has powerfully shaped the international perception of Indian and South Asian cinema worldwide over nearly four decades. She has elevated its profile by relentlessly championing new voices and honouring overlooked senior auteurs and talent. Her work covers a wide range, from Bollywood and other mainstream cinemas, to South Asian independent arthouse films in 60 regional languages, including features, documentaries, animation, shorts, experimental and student films. She is committed to supporting quality filmmakers in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Afghanistan; with particular attention to underrepresented filmmakers, including from India's North East, women's and minority voices, LGBTQI+ filmmakers, and inclusiveness regarding film and disability. Her outstanding contribution to cinema is in six key areas of film industry-related work, supporting filmmakers at various points along the film chain in diverse ways: *International Jury Member on 25 film festivals and awards on four continents, including Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Karlovy Vary, Oberhausen (Europe); Taipei (Taiwan), Asian Film Awards (Hong Kong),Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA, Australia, Nominations Council, 2013-2022, 9 years)-Asia; Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative for Film Jury, New York; Tasveer South Asian Film Festival (Seattle, US/North America); Mar del Plata (Argentina, Latin America). *International Film Festival Curator/ Programmer/ Consultant --India and South Asia Delegate, Berlin International Film Festival,pre-selecting South Asian films since 1998. --Toronto International Film Festival's TIFF Cinematheque (4 seasons of film curatorial collaborations, 2011-2022, over 11 years), Locarno FF -Open Doors, 2011; British Film Institute (year-long, 5 season, India on Film programming, 2017), Cinematheque Francaise, Paris, Raj Kapoor Retro, Toute la Memoire du Monde Festival, 2013; Busan IFF (1996-2008, 12 yearsworking with Kim Ji-Seok, including V Shantaram Retrospective-Remapping Asian Auteurs), Korea; Dubai IFF (2010 - 2017, 8 years); International Programmer, MumbaiFilm Festival; Asian Film Consultant, International Film Festival India-IFFI/Goa and IFF Colombo; Curator, IFF Kerala; Made By Women-2004, 2005; World Social Forum FF, Mumbai, 2004;Curator, 3rd i /ATA,San Francisco, 2012, USA. * Senior Film Critic and Journalist:since 39 years. Was Assistant Editor, Times of India. Freelance for Variety (US), Film Comment (by Film@Lincoln Center, NY, US), Cineaste (US), Screen International (UK), Sight and Sound (UK), Cahiers du Cinema (France), rouge.com.au (Australia); Times of India, Forbes, weekly column in Sunday Midday. *Filmmaker: have worked on 15 films and TV series, including directing Looking For Amitabh, a short documentary; was Line Producer-India for five international feature-length documentaries shot in India, for Arte and directors from the US, Germany, Switzerland and South Korea. These include Uli Gaulke's Comrades in Dreams (Leinwandfieber, Germany), Berlin Film Festival, nominated for Grand Jury Prize, Sundance FF, 2007, and Alexis Krasilovsky's Women Behind the Camera (US), on women cinematographers worldwide, which won Best Documentary, Moondance Film Festival, 2007. *Mentor: have been Script Mentor, Pitch Mentor, Critics' Mentor and Curators' Mentor; --Script and Pitch Mentor since 15 years: Asia Pacific Screen Lab (APSA, Australia) for emerging Asian filmmakers (her APSL protege Yeo Siew Hua's A Land Imagined (Singapore) won the Golden Leopard at Locarno Film Festival, 2018, and protégé Mohanad Hayal's Haifa Street, Iraq, won the top New Currents Award, Busan Film Festival, 2019); Busan Asian Film School (AFIS) Pitching Mentor 2022; Berlinale Spotlight on Bangladesh; Dhaka International Film Festival's West Meets East Screenplay Lab, Bangladesh; Dhaka Doc Lab, Bangladesh;Sultana's Dream: Breaking the Silence: Script Mentor for all-women film lab addressing sexual abuse, Dhaka, Bangladesh 2022; Clinik. Kathmandu, South Asian Script Lab, Nepal. --Mentor, Film Critics' Labs: Berlinale Talent Campus, Berlin Film Festival; Melbourne IFF and Mumbai Film Festival --Mentor, Film Festival Curators, for Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), online 2021 *Have been Expert on Selection Committees of Script Labs, Film Labs and Film Funds worldwide: Sundance Institute Screenwriters' Labs in India; Venice Film Festival's Biennale College Cinema, International Film Festival Rotterdam IFFR's Hubert Bals Fund,a top US documentary film fund that must remain confidential; Locarno IFF Open Doors-India, National Film Development Corporation (NFDC)-India. *Have been Professor of Cinema in India and Guest Lecturer worldwide Overseas: City University of NewYork (CUNY), NY, Bard College, NY, Manhattanville College, NY; Third i, San Francisco; Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) Cinematheque;Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin; Kuenstlerhaus, Vienna; Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) and Griffith Film School, Brisbane, Australia;Busan Film Festival, South Korea. In India:Film and Television Institute of India (FTII, Pune); Indian Institute of Management (IIMA), Ahmedabad; Xavier Institute of Communications (XIC, 1990-2000), Whistling Woods International (2012, 2013); Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) *Author: written for/ edited 21 books, mainly on cinema --Indian Cinema Beyond Bollywood: The New Independent Cinema Revolution, ed Ashvin Immanuel Devasundaram, Routledge/Taylor&Francis, UK, 2018 --Au Sud du Cinema (Cahiers du Cinema/ Fonds Sud/ Arte, France, 2004 -ImportExport:Cultural Transfer:India, Germany, Austria, Werkleitz/Parthas, Berlin 2005 -Shooting Women: Behind the Camera, Around the world by Harriet Margolis, Alexis Krasilovsky and Julia Stein, (Intellect, Bristol, UK, Chicago, USA, 2015). -India For a Billion Reasons, edited by Amit Dasgupta (Ministry of External Affairs), Wisdom Tree, 2010.