Indian Documentaries Ride Global Wave as Local Funding and Distribution Concerns Remain
variety.comNaman Ramachandran Far from the bright lights of Bollywood, the indomitable Indian documentary filmmaking industry has been making waves globally.
The recent past has several examples of India‘s international success. In 2021, Payal Kapadia’s “A Night of Knowing Nothing” won the Cannes documentary award, while Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh’s “Writing With Fire” won Sundance and was Oscar nominated.
In 2022, Kartiki Gonsalves’ “The Elephant Whisperers” won the documentary short Oscar; Shaunak Sen’s “All That Breathes” won both the Sundance and Cannes documentary awards and scored an Oscar nomination, in addition to a plethora of other wins; and Vinay Shukla’s “While We Watched” won awards at Toronto and Busan.
In 2023, Sarvnik Kaur’s “Against the Tide” won a special jury award at Sundance and in 2024, Park City continued to be a happy hunting ground for India with a win for Anirban Dutta and Anupama Srinivasan’s “Nocturnes.” 2024 has continued to bring cheer for India, with Nishtha Jain, whose “The Golden Thread” won at Bergamo in 2022, winning the top international prize at Hot Docs for “Farming the Revolution” and “While We Watched” winning the Peabody award for documentary.
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