Current Students Gauri Adelkar and Saim Sadiq Shortlisted for 2019 BAFTA Student Film Awards
The Little Goddess, written and directed by current student Gauri Adelkar, and Nice Talking to You, written and directed by current student Saim Sadiq, and co-produced by alumnus Joseph Capotorto '18 and alumna Federica Belletti '18 have been shortlisted for the 2019 BAFTA Student Film Awards in the Live Action category. The film was developed during Adelkar’s Directing IV Class taught by Professor Ramin Bahrani.
The Little Goddess tells the story of twelve-year-old Durga who faces a life-changing decision when presented with the opportunity to leave her rural Indian village. "Shot on location in rural India with a family of Bahurupi artists playing themselves, the film mixes the documentary and fiction forms to portray the complex realities of rural youth," according to Adelkar's website. The film had its world premiere at The Hamptons International Film Festival in October, 2018, where it played as part of the Shorts Program: Women Calling the Shots in partnership with New York Women in Film and Television.
Adelkar is a writer and director based in New York and Mumbai and was the recipient of the Breaking Barriers Award for Female Directors in 2018 at Columbia University. A previous short film, The Looking Ceremony, which she co-wrote with writer/director and current student Fany de la Chica won the #NewView film competition by Glamor Magazine and the GirlGaze Project. Her debut short, The Theft, won Best Director at the Boston International Film Festival, Best Short at the Boston Kids Film Festival, Gold Award at Documentary & Short Film Festival, Jakarta and screened at various international film festivals around the world.
Nice Talking To You “tells the story of how two strangers form a silent bond in the world's loudest city. At an American Sign Language party, a Lebanese girl on her last day in the city, meets a NYC photographer. What sparks is an unlikely romance until the spell is broken by words.” Sadiq was also recently awarded a $5,000 Tuition Scholarship and a $5,000 Kodak Motion Picture Product Grant.
Sadiq is a filmmaker from Pakistan whose documentary work on religious minorities and children in Pakistan was broadcasted on several national networks and showcased by the BBC Free Speech Stories alongside assisting in awareness and fundraising drives in the country. His first short film, Pasban, has screened at numerous festivals across the globe.
The BAFTA Student Film Awards are an annual event celebrating the works of the next generation of talented and innovative filmmakers from around the globe.