Drama/Coming-of-Age/LGBTQ+ | 2024 | 19:16 m
American teen Neelu feels like a fish out of water amidst preparations for her sister’s wedding in Delhi until she forges a brief and unexpected connection with Zeyb, a quiet sari store clerk who moonlights as an internet drag queen.
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Produced by: Kajri Akhtar and Shruti Parekh
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Winner of and produced as part of the 2nd CAPE & Janet Yang Productions Julia S. Gouw Short Film Challenge.
Friday, February 7 at 7:00 PM
Shruti Parekh is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker who tells intimate and incisive stories of life on the margins. Her most recent narrative short, ZARI, won the Grand Jury and Audience Awards at NewFest and was nominated for Best Narrative Short at Austin Film Festival. She wrote and directed ZARI as a winner of the CAPE/Janet Yang Productions Julia S. Gouw Short Film Challenge. Shruti’s prior project, ESPERANZA, won four awards and played at over 20 festivals around the world. Previously, Shruti created award-winning issue-driven work as a digital video journalist at Gizmodo Media Group, writing, shooting, directing, and editing much of her work. She has worked on award-winning documentaries and created videos for clients such as Food & Wine, Vanity Fair, Elizabeth Arden, and Yellowbrick. Shruti got her start making music videos and working as an assistant to acclaimed director Mira Nair. Shruti has a BA from Brown University and an MFA in Directing from UCLA.
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