Kavery Kaul

Director, Writer & Producer Kavery Kaul believes that people are at the heart of any story. And stories shape our beliefs, our way of life, and our perspectives on the world. Her feature documentary THE BENGALI (2021) is about African-American writer Fatima Shaik's journey to India in search of her family's past --- the untold story of ties between African-Americans and South Asians in the U.S. --- the legacy of global migration. In 2019, Kavery was an Imagen Award Nominee for CUBAN CANVAS, which premiered at Doc NYC. It was filmed in Havana with visual artists Manuel Mendive, Roberto Diago, Rocio Garcia, Roger Toledo, and Ariamna Contino. Kavery's directorial debut, the documentary FIRST LOOK, presented on PBS-TV by the National Latino Consortium (now LPBP), was also about painters in Cuba --- more than 30 years earlier. Narrated by Harry Belafonte, it was filmed in Cuba and the US, with the artists Eduardo "Choco" Roca and Nelson Dominguez on their travels to San Francisco and New York. In this first cultural exchange with contemporary Cuba, the visitors met with American artists Alice Neel, Al Loving, and James Rosenquist. Kavery next directed, produced, and edited the music documentary ONE HAND DON'T CLAP. Its Telluride premiere led to major festival screenings on 6 continents. The film features calypso/soca legend Lord Kitchener and Calypso Rose, the first woman to break through to the top in that arena. Their infectious Caribbean rhythms carry viewers from Brooklyn recording studios to the awesome magic of carnival in Trinidad & Tobago. Kavery's other credits include LONG WAY FROM HOME, in which three young girls search for a place in schools where they're "different" from the others; BACK WALKING FORWARD, about a family's life-changing new normal after their son's brain injury; and WILD AT ART, a conversation with modern Filipina-American painter Pacita Abad. In 2013, she was selected for a Fulbright Fellowship for filmmakers working in India, and in 2015, for a Logan Fellowship, initiated to support filmmakers in the post-production phase. Born in Kolkata, India, Kavery moved to America at the age of 6. Her childhood years continued in Philadelphia and New Jersey. Today, she lives in New York City.