1. Introduction

Mira Nair was born and raised in Rourkela, India, and went on to study at Delhi and Harvard universities. She began her career as a stage actor in India before moving to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she transitioned to documentary films at 20 years old. Her narrative feature debut, Salaam Bombay! (1988), won the Camera d’Or and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language film. A resourceful and determined independent filmmaker who casts unknowns alongside acclaimed actors, Mira has directed Mississippi Masala (1991), The Perez Family (1995), Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love (1996), Hysterical Blindness (2002), Vanity Fair (2004), The Namesake (2006), Amelia (2009), and The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2012). Her most recent film, Queen of Katwe, about a Ugandan girl with an aptitude for chess, stars Lupita Nyong’o and David Oyelowo. Mira recently directed the musical version of her acclaimed film Monsoon Wedding (2001) at the Berkeley Repertory Theater, where it had an extended, sold-out run this past summer and is now Broadway-bound. She is the director of BBC’s forthcoming adaptation of A Suitable Boy, to be released in 2020.

Hi Students,

I want to take this opportunity to welcome you and share what I’ve learned about filmmaking with you. Bringing new voices and stories to film has been a passion of mine. It’s why I began filmmaking in the first place. From my documentaries to my feature films and now to the Maisha Film Lab for emerging filmmakers in East Africa, I’ve always looked for ways to make our screens alive with the diversity of who we all are. That includes you, and your story, no matter what else you might have been told.

When I was working to make Mississippi Masala—after being nominated for an Oscar for Salaam Bombay!—I was told that I ought to consider making room for a white protagonist, despite having Denzel Washington as the lead … I laughed, promising them that all the waiters in this film would be white—and was shown the door. Rejection spurs me on; it makes me feel I’m doing something right. So has dealing with limited budgets.

Now, I’m honored to share what little I know with you: to find the story those is distinctly yours and stay true to it, to make a big impact even if your budget is small, and to direct on set and lead a team. We’ll workshop through a process to draw the best from your professional and non-actors.

All of this is with the end goal of helping any of you with the passion, discipline, and obsession to create a film. Cultivate stamina. Put aside reward. It matters that you stick with it, that you embrace learning and challenges, too. That’s why I’m here to help.