Sri Krishna Priya - Student Festival Director

Sri Krishna Priya is a student of School of Liberal Arts and Sciences pursuing her degree in Psychology and Filmmaking. She is a passionate cinephile, who recognizes and is aware of the ability of film to engage and inspire her. She loves exploring different genres and is actively looking for fresh and thought-provoking movies to deepen her knowledge and appreciate this beautiful art form.

TIFA has given her an opportunity to work towards her passion and help in developing multidisciplinary skills. She is also a dancer and an aesthete.

Ved Trivedi - Student Director- Curation

Ved Trivedi is a student of School of Liberal Arts and Sciences pursuing his degree in Film Making and Environmental Sciences. He finds cinema to be great a window to look at the world from different aspects of life. Movie buff from a young age, he finds himself always intrigued by how characters interact with each other and the environment they live in. He participated in TIFA to learn from and about the different perspectives that talented minds around him will showcase in their own works of art.

Yashas Shenoy - Student Director - Social Media

Yashas Shenoy is a student of the School of Design and Innovation, and is a massive film enthusiast. He has always had a special place in his heart for the 'art of cinema', and TIFA is a special way for him to spread his love for film and enhance his capabilities as a Group Lead!

Roshny Raphael - Student Director – Response

Roshny Raphael is a student of the School of Design and Innovation, pursuing her degree in UI/UX. Cinema is an integral part of her life and watching a good film has always brought a sense of comfort and thrill in her whether it be the plot, the characters, the score, or the mix of everything. She joined TIFA to work with people who share a similar passion to hers in a field she's interested in. She feels like it has been an unparalleled experience that made her appreciate the art of cinema even more.

Pawan Sai - Student Director – Events

Pawan Sai is a student of the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences, in Filmmaking and Literature. He's been a big admirer of cinema since he was a kid and now, he believes that TIFA can fuel young filmmakers like him, and push them to make more amazing content.

Haritha Srikanth - Student Director - Creatives

Haritha Srikanth is a student of the School of Design and Innovation, pursuing a degree in communication design. Film is a way to connect with others and a relief from life for her. It transports one and immerses them in the movie, picturing the life of the characters and has deep impact on their goals and ambitions. She believes that TIFA is a great opportunity for like minded people to learn from each other.

Sohali Mishra - Student Director – Marketing

Sohali Mishra is a student of the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences pursuing her degree in Philosophy and Literature. She is an avid viewer of classic cinema, which provides her with a wealth of knowledge about life and film adaptations of classic literature. She loves exploring even the worldly genres like sci-fi, horror and rom com. TIFA has given her the opportunity to gain a wider perspective on her own field of interest.

Kamya Sandeep Subramanya - Student Director – TIFA Awards

Kamya Sandeep Subramanya is a student of the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences pursuing her degree in Psychology and Literature. She has always been drawn to the magic of cinema. For her, going to a cinema is not just about watching a film, it’s also a way of bonding and connecting with others. She believes that TIFA can help bring young film artists and enthusiasts together to support, celebrate and collaborate with each other.

Nandita Puri

A student of English literature, Nandita started out as a journalist with some of the leading publications in the country including The Statesman, The Telegraph and the TOI group. She wrote a popular weekly column on films for nearly a decade with Midday and Dainik Bhaskar.

Apart from working as a broadcaster for AIR and Mark Tully's Radio Network, she has been on the script committees of NFDC and CFSI as well as a Ted x speaker. She also writes for television and films. Her collection of short stories Nine on Nine was published in 2005 followed by the highly successful biography, Unlikely Hero: Om Puri and her current international best seller Jennifer on child trafficking and inter country adoption. This is soon to be adapted into a film.

In 2017 she launched the Om Puri Foundation at the 70th Cannes Film Festival in memory of her husband to carry forward his legacy and philosophy. Currently she chairs the Om Puri Foundation.

Christopher Dalton

Quintessentially, a film critic /essayist /festival advisor. Additionally, editor-publisher of Cinematic Illusions; editor of the Journal of Indian Cinema; co-author of the book, Indian Film Culture: Indian Cinema; and founder of the Cinema Society of India, which screens films, and of House of Illusions, an indie film studio that creates meaningful cinema.

He began his journalistic odyssey writing for The Hindu and the Times Group. His film-reviewing stint spans around a decade, and includes such publications as Rediff, The Film Street Journal, Dear Cinema, Upper Stall, and the Deccan Chronicle/The Asian Age. In addition to being a writer, he is a prolific cameraman with over ten years of experience as a documenter of reality.

Dalton is a chief organiser of the Kautik International Film Festival as well as the upcoming Mumbai International Student Film Festival. He has served on the music jury of Mahatma Gandhi University and on the film jury of the National Film Awards.

Priyanka Sinha Jha

Priyanka Sinha Jha is an Author, Journalist and Co-Founder of Talkietive Content Creators – a content development company. She’s been the Head of Bollywood and celebrity-based content across various media companies such as 9X Media, Network18 and Hotstar. She’s also been the Editor of Screen (Indian Express), HT Style, HT Saturday and Society magazine.

She’s produced and hosted celebrity-based shows on Firstpost.com, News18.com, Voot, Indianexpress.com, and Hotstar, and has been the Curator for the Star Screen Awards for 12 years.

She’s the author of Supertraits of Superstars, a motivational self-help book inspired by film celebrities. Priyanka’s new book, Folk Tales From Bollywood, is a collection of quirky and fictional Bollywood-based short stories.

YOUNG FILMMAKER IN FOCUS

Kabeer Khurana

Kabeer Khurana is a Filmfare-nominated, 16-time international award- winning filmmaker. Apart from winning awards in Italy, USA and Ukraine, his films have received 40+ festival selections internationally, including the Global University Film Awards, and have been screened at other festivals in Brazil, Prague, Singapore, Indonesia, Morocco, Croatia, and others. Kabeer’s films have premiered on Disney+ Hotstar, Amazon Prime, Jio Cinemas and MX Player. He currently produces his films under his banner, Picasso Cinematics.

He is known for directing an IPL campaign commercial, starring Hardik Pandya, Shubman Gill and Kane Williamson, as well his upcoming TVC with Ravi Kishan. Apart from advertising work, his short film, Karma Cafe, starring Amole Gupte was named as one of the Top 15 Indian Short Films (by Candid Tech) and Top 87 Shorts (by WebShorts). Dali (2020) won the top honour Audience Choice Award at the Flatlands International Dance Film Festival, Illinois (USA) from 650 films. Hangout has been premiered on Disney+ Hotstar and Amazon Prime US and UK. He is also known for Renée Sen’s debut short films Suttabaazi and Dramayama, co-starring Darsheel Safary and Suchitra Pillai.

TRUPTI KOTNI

Student Festival Director

Trupti Kotni is a student of liberal arts and sciences pursuing her degree in Psychology and India Studies. For her, cinema is an escape from the real world, and she enjoys the process of filmmaking. She aims to see TIFA at greater heights in the long run and feels that working for TIFA and meeting new people was an experience that’s broadened her perspective on life and the arts. She is also an artist and a dancer.

MANNAT KAUR

Student Curator and Director (Communication)

Mannat Kaur is a student of liberal arts and sciences pursuing her degree in Political Science and Literature. She finds cinema to be a comfort space that allows an individual. to explore different aspects of life. TIFA has become a platform where she has learned more about cinema as a 21st century art form, and the influence of cinema in the life of the ‘common’. She also is a national-level badminton player, a passionate dancer and a singer.

SHRIYA PRITHVI

Student Curator and Director (Marketing)

Shriya Prithvi is a student of liberal arts and sciences pursuing her degree in Psychology and Computer Science. The portrayal of characters in cinema fascinates her as she learns a lot from them. She believes that TIFA can bring out the best among upcoming teen talents and hopes the festival will be a great success.

SHANTA PADMAVATI

Student Director (Events)

Shanta Padmavathi is a student of liberal arts and sciences pursuing her degree in Psychology and is an aspiring psychologist. She has always been a movie-buff and films are more of an experience for her. She feels that is the way she and her family spend time together. It’s the love and passion she shares for films that brought her to joining team TIFA. She feels TIFA is a way to encourage young adults to explore their view through films, bring in their creativity, bring in new visual texts, and appreciate them when they see the world through a different lens.

JAINAM BAFNA

Student Director (Finance and Hospitality)

Jainam Bafna is a student at school of business and, an enthusiastic learner of every experience, he encounters. Cinema to him is an emotion! Films in general either motivate him or help him cheer up through ‘stuck’ situations. His take on joining TIFA, was to grow and learn the general skills of marketing and curating an event.

Debjani Halder

Debjani Halder is a national and international award- winning scholar and filmmaker. Presently, Assistant Professor of Filmmaking in the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences in RV University, Bangalore, her documentary Documenting Agony Ritwik and The Dark have fetched several national and international awards including the National Film Award in 2010 and 2014. She is the author of three monographs and has been widely published in national and international journals. In 2022, she ranked first in the NFDC-Netflix Script Writing Competition.

Deepa Ganesh

Deepa Ganesh has been Deputy Editor, The Hindu for two decades heading the culture pages. Writer, translator and editor, she has received the Sahitya Academy Award for translation of U.R. Ananth Murthy’s stories into English. She has received the Music Critic Award from the Musicological Society and was editor of the Sahitya Academy journal for three years and has five published works.

Nikhil Dayanand

Nikhil Dayanand is a product designer with a keen interest in movies and movie making. He is presently Assistant Professor at the School of Design and Innovation at R V University, Bangalore. He also practices furniture design by himself and has been doing so since 2017.

Ranjan De

Ranjan De is a polymath with lots of interests and 35 plus years of experience in many fields of Communication Design. He is presently the Programme Head of Communication Design at School of Design and Innovation, RV University, Bangalore. He’ has participated as a jury member on many Publishing and Film Award panels. Piyush Roy is an Indian National Film Award winning critic-columnist, and an international author, curator, poet, filmmaker and professor in film and media studies. Presently, he is Dean, School of Liberal Arts and Sciences, RV University, Bengaluru and writes a column in The Hindu introducing landmark Indian films, called ‘Friday Talkies’. Former editor of Stardust and Star Week, he has worked at senior reporting positions in The Indian Express and Hindustan Times and has authored two books on cinema, Bollywood FAQ (2019) and Appreciating Melodrama (2022).