My Melbourne
Race | Gender | Disability | Sexuality
Birva Desai is currently in the final semester of her postgraduate studies at the University of Melbourne. Originally from India (Ahmedabad), her family moved to Melbourne in 2006 and Birva completed her undergraduate studies in Film Studies and Media Communications, from Monash University, in 2018.
Boris Hall is an avid writer with several years of experience writing in various capacities. From his early days in journalism to current capacity as a lawyer, writing dominates both his personal and professional life. One thing that’s constant throughout it all is his love of storytelling. Whatever he’s doing in life, Boris has always taken time to write stories of mystery and fantasy and he is immensely grateful to be involved with IFFM.
Husna Amani is vision impaired, studies Psychology and Spanish at Deakin University and spends her spare time watching 90s Bollywood movies and doing too much online shopping. Husna loves writing stories that celebrate human spirit - Bollywood style!
Mahima Gadiyar is an independent filmmaker tackling the complexities of filmmaking drawing from her experiences in various roles and mediums. She offers a different vantage point, optimism and a drive to lead productions to their succession. Mahima is currently working as Camera Operator for Tennis Australia.
Monique Nair is a Melbourne writer currently completing her Honours year in creative writing researching sociolinguistics and diaspora writing. She has performed poetry for Melbourne Emerging Writers' Festival and her articles have been published online with Peril Magazine and RMIT University's featured stories.
Originally from Kolkata, Nandita Chakraborty moved to Melbourne in 2000. After a horrific rock-climbing accident, she was left with a traumatic brain injury resulting in cognitive disability. Since then, she has written two novellas and is now working as a freelance food writer, writing food stories of famous chefs in Australia. Nandita has written with iconic filmmaker Jhanu Barua and hopes to use the medium of films as another way to tell her stories.
Puneet Gulati is an actor, recording artist, host and writer. He is also a recipient of the Meritorious Service Medal by the Government of Victoria for the cause of bullying and harassment towards ethnic communities in Melbourne. Puneet has produced, scripted and co-directed his first short, Cafe Choice which premiered at the 2020 IFFM. Puneet is also in the direction team.
Samira Cox is 19 and lives with Usher syndrome. She is deaf and legally blind. Samira got into filmmaking through Hear For You, who mentor deaf teenagers and started a film festival. She won Best Screenplay for her HSC Major Artwork, made an animated film and now studies Screen and Media at TAFE. Samira is also part of the direction team.
Shivani Prabhu is a Melbourne-based writer and editor with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, Journalism, and Creative Writing, from Deakin University. Her work has appeared in Rabbit and Verandah, and she is shortlisted for the Judith Rodriguez Prize 2021. She edits nonfiction for Voiceworks.
Brad Francis, award-winning cinematographer with 13 years of experience based and working throughout Australia and internationally.
Dheepa Awtani is an independent filmmaker who won the IFFM Short Film Competition in 2014.
Hossein Khodabandehloo, DOP exploring narrative, commercial and branded content.
Jack Vincent McCulloch, sound recordist and boom operator who has been working on features, TV shows, shorts and documentaries for 6 years.
Jamie Ker runs her own female-driven production company in Melbourne called 'SHE AND THE OTHERS’ who recently completed their debut web series 'Life, Camera, Awkward' which Jamie wrote, produced and directed.
Kauthar Abdulalim, writer, director and impact producer She won the Short Film Competition at IFFM 2018 for her film Found and is a graduate of Film Victoria's Story Lab initiative.
Nathan Klooger, skilled in lighting and camera operation, Nathan has completed an Advanced Diploma of Screen and Media focused on Film/Cinema/Video Studies from Swinburne University.
Nalin Narang is a passionate storyteller with experience in directing theatre, short films and music videos.
Pulak Bose is a director and photographer, having won the People’s Choice category at the Short Film Competition at IFFM 2020 with his field Legato - Tied Together.
Ravi Chand, screenwriter and producer who has recently been selected for Film Victoria’s Screen Development Internship Program.
Rohan D’Souza has an Honours in Film & Television from Swinburne University. Short films he's written, directed and produced have played at numerous international film festivals.
Ron Kahlon, with three years of experience in the film industry, Ron worked on various Australian and Indian productions which includes short films and music videos.
Sara Nazemi, with a Bachelor of Digital Media, Direction as well as Direction and Production Management for Film and TV, Sara has created and a number of short films.
Sudheer Patil studied film production at Australian Film Base, produced and directed three short films, earned multiple awards and has been selected in several film festivals including IFFM 2019.
Vasanth Gangadhara worked as associate director, DOP, editor and actor on various films in India and Australia.
Yoav Lester, award-winning director, producer and writer, having worked on music videos, short films and advertisement.
Kirtan Singh | Disha Padau | Payal Lakothia | Namya Lahoti | Abir Hiranandani | Kasuni Imbulana | Kanishka Arora | Nindya Putri | Bhavya Marwah | Sabhya Dua | Riya Vats | Jagjit Singh | Param Walia | Anusha K | Vrund Shah
The timing and production of the anthology is dependant on the International borders opening and the schedules of our directors. All updates will be posted here as and when they happen.