Ashim Ahluwalia (born 1972 in

Mumbai, India Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

) is a film director and screenwriter. He made his directorial debut with the feature-length documentary ''John & Jane'' (2005), which had a world premiere at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...

and a European premiere at the

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

, and won him the

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris (dwarf planet), Er ...

National Film Award for Best First Non-Feature Film of a Director. This was followed by his first narrative feature film '' Miss Lovely'', premiered at the

2012 Cannes Film Festival The 65th Cannes Film Festival was held from 16 to 27 May 2012. Italian film director Nanni Moretti was the President of the Jury for the main competition and British actor Tim Roth was the President of the Jury for the Un Certain Regard sectio ...

. which won him India's

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, and Best Production Design at the 61st National Film Awards. Working outside the mainstream

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

film system, Ashim Ahluwalia is part of a new generation of Indian directors. His unconventional films blur the lines between documentary and fiction. His short films have shown at the

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, the

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and at the Venice Architecture Biennale.

Early life

Ashim Ahluwalia grew up in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the '' de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the sec ...

, India. He attended the city's

Cathedral and John Connon School The Cathedral & John Connon School is a co-educational private school founded in 1860 and located in Fort, Mumbai, Maharashtra.Bard College Bard College is a private liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic District—a National Historic Landmark. Founded in 18 ...

in upstate New York, from which he graduated with a BA in filmmaking in 1995.

Career

Ahluwalia began his film career with a series of experimental films made between 1993 and 2002. His first short, ''The Dust'' (1993), was made by reworking

home movies A home movie is a short amateur film or video typically made just to preserve a visual record of family activities, a vacation, or a special event, and intended for viewing at home by family and friends. Originally, home movies were made on ...

shot by his grandfather in the 1950s. He formed an independent production company, Future East, in 2005, providing an infrastructure for him to work outside mainstream film channels. Ahluwalia was selected by the San Francisco Film Society as their Artist in Residence for 2013. In May 2013, he received the Charles Flint Kellogg Award in Arts and Letters from

Bard College Bard College is a private liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic District—a National Historic Landmark. Founded in 18 ...

, his alma mater. The award is "given in recognition of a significant contribution to artistic or literary heritage." In November 2013, he was selected to be on the jury of the 8th edition of the

Rome Film Festival International Rome Film Fest is a film festival that takes place in Rome during the month of October. The name in Italian is Festa del Cinema di Roma. Sections The Rome Film Festival official program is divided into several sections: Cinema d'O ...

for the CinemaXXI section. In 2010, Ahluwalia was named "one of the ten best emerging film directors working today" by

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in "Take 100: The Future of Film".Phaido
10 best new filmmakers
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Filmography

Films

* '' Thin Air'' (1999) * '' John & Jane'' (2005) * '' Miss Lovely'' (2012) * '' Events in A Cloud Chamber'' (2016) * ''

Daddy A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. An adoptive fath ...

'' (2017) * '' The Field Guide to Evil'' (2018)

Web series

* ''CLA$$'' (Season 1) on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

Awards

* Indian National Film Award (2007) - Best Non-Fiction Film for John & Jane * Indian National Film Award (2013) - Special Jury Award (Feature Film) for Miss Lovely * Indian National Film Award (2013) - Best Production Design for Miss Lovely

Notes

References

*Koehler, Robert. (13 October 2005)
"John & Jane"
''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' *Stone, Susan (9 March 2006)
"Indian by Day, American by Night"
'' Der Spiegel''. *Pasolini, Antonio
"Dispatch: The Osnabrück Media Art Festival, Germany, 10–14 May 2006"
kamera.co.uk. Retrieved 15 November 2011

External links

*

* John & Jane: Official Websit
John & Jane: Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahluwalia, Ashim 1972 births Living people Indian male screenwriters Indian experimental filmmakers Hindi film producers Bard College alumni Hindi-language film directors Film directors from Mumbai Cathedral and John Connon School alumni Indian Sikhs 21st-century Indian film directors Best Production Design National Film Award winners Ahluwalia