Artist

Shanti Thakur

Born in Canada and based in New York City, Shanti Thakur’s award-winning films have been screened at over 200 film festivals including the Cannes Film Festival (Emerging Filmmakers’ Venue), Montreal World Film Festival, Hamptons International Film Festival, Edinburgh International Film Festival and the Museum of Modern Art (New York City).

Working easily between fiction, documentary and experimental, her films Sky People (2008) Kairos (2002), Seven Hours To Burn (1999), Two Forms (1998) Circles (1997) and Domino (1994) and Crossing Borders (1992) have won 19 awards and have broadcast in 22 countries, including the Sundance Channel. Her latest fiction film Sky People (2008) won Best Experimental Film at the LA Int’l Short Film Festival which qualified it to be considered for an Academy Award nomination. Other awards include: Platinum Remi Award, Worldfest Houston; Best Narrative Film, Columbus International Film Festival; Best Narrative Film, University Film & Video Association; and Best of the Fest, Chicago REEL Short Film Festival.

She is slated to shoot
Red Tulips in spring 2011, a speculative fiction film, taking place in New York.

Her directorial work has been supported by the National Film Board of Canada, the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts and the Pew Fellowship of the Arts. Raised in Montreal, she received her M.F.A. in Film and Media Arts from Temple University. She is Assistant Professor in Film and Media Production at Hunter College, City University of New York.

Artist Code: 136

Videography

Crossing Borders

1992, 24:30 minutes, colour, French, English

Critical Writing

Crossing Borders: Building Communities
by Shanti Thakur and Leith Hamilton. Clips, Apr. 1993.
Constructive Dialogue: Video fights racial tensions created by media
by Kristina Stockwood. The Montreal Mirror, Nov. 26, 1992.
Public forum to probe N.D.G. race relations
by Aaron Derfel. The Gazette, Nov. 26, 1992.