Shabnam Virmani is a documentary film maker and artist in residence at the

Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology The Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology, (formerly Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology), is a multi-disciplinary design school established in 1996 by Geetha Narayanan in Bangalore, India. It offers courses in digita ...

in Bangalore since 2002. Co-founder of the Drishti Media Arts and Human Rights collective, she has directed several documentaries, some of which have won awards. In 2002, she co-directed an award-winning community radio program with the Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan in Gujarat. She has performed Kabir's compositions in Rajasthan Kabir Yatra - a six-days long folk music festival and in Jashn-e-Rekhta. ''Kabira Khada Bazaar Mein'', a documentary film by Shabnam Virmani on the poet-saint as part of her Kabir Project, has won the Special Jury Prize at the 58th National Awards, June 2011.Margins are great places to be in
/ref> She was conferred this award for,"An insightful film that introduces us to the various cults that have grown around Kabir, the mystic weaver and saint. It explores the nuances of India's argumentative tradition as exemplified by Kabir's dohas and traces the eventful journey of one man caught in an Orwellian dilemma as he is elevated to the status of a cult leader, torn between the inevitable trappings of hierarchy that run paradoxical to the simple philosophy of Kabir".Filmmaker moved by Godhra riots bags national award
/ref>

Awards and nominations

Had-Anhad (Bounded-Boundless)

Journeys with

Ram Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to: Animals * A male sheep * Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish People * Ram (given name) * Ram (surname) * Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director * RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch * Ra ...

and

Kabir Kabir Das (1398–1518) was a 15th-century Indian mystic poet and saint. His writings influenced Hinduism's Bhakti movement, and his verses are found in Sikhism's scripture Guru Granth Sahib, the Satguru Granth Sahib of Saint Garib Das, ...

* 1st Prize (shared), One Billion Eyes Documentary Film Festival, August 2009, Chennai * Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival, 5–9 November, New York City * World Performing Arts Festival, Nov 2008, Lahore, Pakistan *

Bangalore International Film Festival The Bengaluru International Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Bengaluru, the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka, which previews films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1996, Suchitra Ba ...

, Jan 2009, Bangalore, India * Kala Ghoda Festival, Feb 2009, Mumbai * Inaugural film, VIBGYOR International Film Festival, Feb 2009, Thrissur, Kerala, India

Chalo Hamara Des (Come to My Country)

Journeys with

and Friends * One Billion Eyes Documentary Film Festival, August 2008, Chennai, India * World Performing Arts Festival, Nov 2008, Lahore, Pakistan * International Festival of Sacred Arts, Feb 2009 Delhi, India * VIBGYOR International Film Festival, Feb 2009, Thrissur, Kerala, India

Koi Sunta Hai (Someone Listens)

Journeys with Kumar and Kabir * One Billion Eyes Documentary Film Festival, August 2008, Chennai, India * World Performing Arts Festival, Nov 2008, Lahore, Pakistan * VIBGYOR International Film Festival, Feb 2009, Thrissur, Kerala, India

Kabira Khada Bazaar Mein (In the Market Stands Kabir)

Journeys with Kabir and Friends * Special Jury Prize at the 58th National Awards, India, June 2011.

When Women Unite:The Story of an Uprising/Aadavallu Ekamaite

* Grand Prize, 6th Tokyo Global Environmental Film Festival, 1997. * Chingari Video Festival, Conference on South Asian Studies,

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

, Madison, USA, 1996 *

Margaret Mead Margaret Mead (December 16, 1901 – November 15, 1978) was an American cultural anthropologist who featured frequently as an author and speaker in the mass media during the 1960s and the 1970s. She earned her bachelor's degree at Barnard Co ...

International Film Festival, New York City, 1997 * Margaret Mead Travelling Film and Video Festival, 1997–98 * Film South Asia, Kathmandu, Nepal, 1997 * 5th Mumbai International Film Festival, 1998 * Sakshi Film Festival, Bangalore, 1998 * Prakriti Film Festival, Pune, 1999 * New Delhi Video Festival, 1999

Tu Zinda Hai!/You Are Alive!

* Awarded Best Film in the Society & Development Category, International Video Festival (IVFEST), Thiruvananthapuram, 1995 *

Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival The Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival is a documentary film festival held biennially in Yamagata, Japan ( ). It was first held in October 1989, which makes it one of the longest running documentary film festivals in the world and ...

, Japan, 1997 * Chingari Video Festival, Conference of South Asian Studies, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA, 1997 * Film South Asia, Kathmandu, Nepal, 1997 * Prakriti Film Festival, Hyderabad, 1997 *

Fribourg International Film Festival The Fribourg International Film Festival (FIFF) is an annual film festival in Fribourg, Switzerland. It is focused on selected films from Asia, Africa and Latin America. The Grand Prize is the main award of the Fribourg International Film Festival ...

, Switzerland, 1998

Umati Umang ni Damri/Hopes Soaring High

Mumbai International Film Festival The Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short and Animation Films (MIFF) is a festival organized in the city of Mumbai (formerly Bombay) by the Films Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. It ...

, Video Vista, 1996 * Margaret Mead International Film Festival, New York, 1996 * Margaret Mead Travelling Film Festival, USA, 1996–97

Kunjal Paanje Kutch Ji (Sarus Crane of our Kutch)

''Radio production'' * Chameli Devi Jain Award for Women in Journalism, March 2001

Notes

External links

Drishti Media Arts and Human Rights collective
{{DEFAULTSORT:Virmani, Shabnam Indian women film directors Indian women journalists Living people Cornell University alumni Indian women documentary filmmakers 20th-century Indian film directors Film directors from Bangalore Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century Indian film directors 21st-century Indian women artists 21st-century Indian women writers 21st-century Indian writers 21st-century Indian journalists 20th-century Indian women