Rintu Thomas is an Academy Award nominated documentary filmmaker and director-producer from India. Her Peabody-winning documentary '' Writing with Fire'', co-directed with Sushmit Ghosh, is the first Indian feature documentary to be nominated for an

Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

. The film also won the Audience Award and Special Jury Award in the World Cinema Documentary Competition at

2021 Sundance Film Festival The 2021 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 28 to February 3, 2021. The first lineup of competition films was announced on December 15, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Utah, the festival combined in-person screenings at the Ray ...

. Thomas is also known for directing ''Timbaktu'', a short documentary which won the

National Film Award The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directorate ...

for the Best Environment Film at the

60th National Film Awards The 60th National Film Awards ceremony was an event during which the Directorate of Film Festivals presented its annual National Film Awards to honour the best films of 2012 in the Indian cinema. The ceremony was held on 3 May 2013 and was host ...

and ''Dilli'', which was awarded Best Documentary at the

Jaipur International Film Festival The Jaipur International Film Festival (JIFF) is held annually in Jaipur, India, since 2009. The festival is conducted by the Jaipur International Film Festival Trust. The Jaipur International Film Festival started in 2009 under Hanu Roj. The ...

in 2012. She is the co-founder of the award-winning production company, Black Ticket Films. In 2021, she was awarded the IDA Courage Under Fire Award for her body of work.

Education

Thomas received her MA in Mass Communication from

A.J.K. Mass Communication Research Centre A.J.K. Mass Communication Research Centre (AJK MCRC) is a mass communication research centre located in New Delhi, India and a constituent college, constituent institute of the Jamia Millia Islamia. The full form for AJK MCRC is Anwar Jamal Kid ...

Jamia University, New Delhi. Her Master's thesis film ''Flying Inside My Body'' won numerous student documentary awards. She received her BA in English Literature from

Lady Shri Ram College Lady Shri Ram College for Women (LSR) is a constituent women's college, affiliated with the University of Delhi, and has a legacy in women's education. History Established in 1956 in New Delhi by the late Lala Shri Ram in memory of his wife ...

Delhi University Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate Central university (India), central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and ...

in 2006. Her professional work has won support from various organizations, including Japan Foundation's HANDs Fellowship (2016),

Sundance Institute Sundance Institute is a non-profit organization founded by Robert Redford committed to the growth of independent artists. The institute is driven by its programs that discover and support independent filmmakers, theatre artists and composers f ...

's Fellowship (2018), Skoll Stories of Change Fellow (2019), IDA Logan Elevate Honoree (2021).

Career

Thomas, along with long-standing partner, Sushmit Ghosh has directed and produced over 150 short documentaries under their Black Ticket Films banner. Her short documentary Dilli premiered at the

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...

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in 2011 and won 22 international awards including 10 Best Short Documentary Awards. Films directed by Thomas has been screened at several top-tier international film festivals and global platforms including the

United Nations Climate Change Conference The United Nations Climate Change Conferences are yearly conferences held in the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). They serve as the formal meeting of the UNFCCC parties (Conference of the Parties, ...

and

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

for Performing Arts. Her work has been profiled by

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

, Washington Post,

Time Magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on Mar ...

, The Atlantic, The Guardian, The Financial Times, Le Monde,

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

, Variety, Deadline, No Film School,

The Asahi Shimbun is one of the four largest newspapers in Japan. Founded in 1879, it is also one of the oldest newspapers in Japan and Asia, and is considered a newspaper of record for Japan. Its circulation, which was 4.57 million for its morning edition and ...

among others. Thomas serves as a mentor for several international film labs and has served as a jury member for

Irish Film & Television Academy Awards The IFTA Film & Drama Awards are awards given by the Irish Film & Television Academy for Irish television and film, the awards began in 1999. The ceremonies recognise Irish creative talent working in film, drama, and television, and winners receiv ...

International Documentary Association International Documentary Association (IDA), founded in 1982, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) that promotes nonfiction filmmakers, and is dedicated to increasing public awareness for the documentary genre. Their major program areas are: Advocacy, Filmm ...

Awards, Points North Fellowship

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) is the world's largest documentary film festival held annually since 1988 in Amsterdam. Over a period of twelve days, it has screened more than 300 films and sold more than 250,000 tic ...

Academy, IDA Enterprise Documentary Fund, Alternativa Film Awards,

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

film programme for young adults. Thomas' first feature length documentary Writing With Fire, premiered on 29 January 2021 in the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

's World Cinema Documentary Competition. One of the first reviews was

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

describing it as "The most inspiring journalism movie – maybe ever".

Indiewire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Hollyw ...

's Kate Erbland in her review of the documentary wrote, "Armed with eagle-eyed filmmakers and compelling subjects, the film deftly blends the (inextricably linked) personal and professional sides of the journalists' work, offering up a wide-ranging look at a vital outlet with so many stories to tell…the result is profound". It was the first Indian film to win a Peabody Award and the jury described the winner as one of "the most compelling and empowering stories released in 2022 across broadcasting and streaming media". The New York Times chose it as a Critics' Pick and the film obtained nominations for Best Documentary from the

Grierson Awards The Grierson Awards are awards set up by The Grierson Trust to recognise innovative and exciting documentary films, created to commemorate the life and work of the pioneering Scottish documentary filmmaker John Grierson. The inaugural Awards w ...

Awards and

Producers Guild of America The Producers Guild of America (PGA) is a 501(c)(6) trade association representing television producers, film producers and New media, New Media producers in the United States. The PGA's membership includes over 8,000 members of the producing esta ...

Awards. Along with winning 40 awards, it is India's first documentary to be nominated for an Academy Award. In India, the documentary film premiered at the

Dharamshala International Film Festival The Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF) is an international film festival held annually in the Himalayan town McLeod Ganj, Dharamshala in India — home to the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan community in exile since 2012. The 10th edition ...

on 5 November 2022. Following the New York premiere of the documentary at Doc NYC in November 2021, the documentary had a theatrical release in the United States, with the opening weekend at the

Film Forum Film Forum is a nonprofit movie theater at 209 West Houston Street in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. It began in 1970 as an alternative screening space for independent films, with 50 folding chairs, one projector and a $19,000 annual budget. Ka ...

in New York. In August 2023, it had a theatrical release in Japan, across 50 Japanese theatres in 22 prefectures.

Filmography

References

External links

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Sushmit Ghosh

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by TriBeCa Productions, Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive progra ...

Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Indian documentary filmmakers {{India-film-director-stub