Kalakars Writers Workshop

SPRING 2022 WRITERS WORKSHOP

APPLICATIONS ARE CLOSED. WE WILL RETURN IN THE FALL.

Kalakars is organizing a 4-month writers' workshop. We are accepting applications to fill four spots - 2 feature/TV pilot and 2 short projects. Kalakars will select a core group of South Asian writers, filmmakers, and actors that will collectively workshop their projects between March-June 2022. Projects need to be scripted and of any length or format. However, this workshop is only limited to projects that have a completed script.

NOTE:

- We are continuing to take all COVID precautions, which is why all our workshop sessions will be conducted virtually, or if/when the protocol allows - in a hybrid format.

- One person may only submit one application, in any one of the categories. Please do not submit more than one application. If you do, only your first application will be considered.

- Kalakars is New York based, however, since these workshops are online, any South Asian artist based in the United States may apply.

- Film features, TV pilots, short films are all eligible. We are only accepting completed Film or TV scripts/projects.

Kalakars does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, caste, gender expression, age, sex or disability.

DEADLINE: JANUARY 31, 2022

For any queries, email us at: hello@kalakars.org

Code of Conduct

All Kalakars programs—including our labs, mentorships, and sessions— are to celebrate voices of our South Asian Community. Kalakars is committed to allowing attendees to experience these programs free of harassment, discrimination, sexism, and threatening or disrespectful behavior. We reserve the right, without notice or refund of any related costs, to limit or revoke access to our programs for those who engage in such conduct. If you are involved in or witness something that violates this code of conduct, please notify someone on our team, and we will work swiftly and discreetly to take appropriate action. For emergencies, immediately dial 9-1-1.

KALAKARS WRITERS 2021

Dhaya

Dhaya Lakshminarayanan is the 2016 winner of the Liz Carpenter Political Humor Award (previously awarded to Samantha Bee, Wanda Sykes and satirist/humorist Mark Russell) presented by the National Women’s Political Caucus. KQED named her one of the twenty “Women to Watch” a series celebrating women artists, creatives and makers in the San Francisco Bay Area who are pushing boundaries in 2016. Dhaya is also a TV host and storyteller. She hosted the premier year of the Emmy award-winning series High School Quiz Show on PBS’s WGBH. She is a frequent comedic storyteller on NPR’s Snap Judgment and has appeared live in Austin on The Risk podcast. Dhaya is a solo performer, and her first play “Nerd Nation” was funded in parts by The Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center of San Francisco and support from DIVAfest which supports new and developing works by female playwrights. Dhaya workshopped her TV pilot at the Kalakars writers workshop.

Rajendra

**Rajendra Thakurathi** is a Nepali writer, director based in Los Angeles. He got his
early storytelling roots from Pixar, BuzzFeed and the NY Times. A graduate of USC School of Cinematic Arts, he was recently one of the top 20 screenwriters at Film Empire Diversity Mentorship Program and also an Armed With a Camera Fellow for emerging Asian Pacific media artists. His screenplay Good Tiger was recently on Coverfly’s Red List as one of the top fantasy scripts of the year. His 2016 short Being Kicked premiered at Durban International Film Festival while My Claire played at Drama International Short Film Festival, Amazon’s All Voices Film Festival 2019 and was also the subject of an Oxford University journal article. He has been featured as a “Filmmakers to Watch” in Cinephilia & Beyond. He’s currently in post-production for his first feature film Six Feet starring Aly Mawji (Silicon Valley) and Raymond Cruz (Breaking Bad), and executive produced by Adam Somer (Pieces of a Woman, Ghostbusters: Afterlife). Raj workshopped his fantasy comedy feature script at our workshop.

Sheba

**Sheba Karim** is the author of the YA novels Skunk Girl, That Thing We Call a Heart, which made several Best Book lists including Bank Street and Kirkus, and Mariam Sharma Hits the Road, which was named a NPR Best Book of the Year, and The Marvelous Mirza Girls (May 2021). Her fiction and essays have been featured in 580 Split, Asia Literary Review, Femina, India Today, Literary Hub, Off Assignment, Shenandoah, South Asian Review, The Rumpus, Time Out Delhi and in several anthologies in the United States and India. She has an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and is a Writer-in-Residence at Vanderbilt University.

PJ

Prarthana Joshi, also known as PJ, is a filmmaker born and raised in Pune, India has a background in design and film production. In 2008, PJ was awarded a production fellowship from the prestigious National Film Archives of India for a research feature documentary on the Prabhat film company – an Indian film studio founded in 1929. In 2009, she directed her first short film, ‘Vaatsaru’. It was screened at the International film festival of India. She is currently based in Los Angeles and works as an independent filmmaker directing and producing, collaborating with directors and working on her own original content. Her short film, ‘The Day He Learned to Fly’, was screened on the national television, NDTV Imagine, and secured worldwide digital distribution. In 2013, she earned her MFA in filmmaking from the New York Film Academy in Los Angeles. Her thesis short, ‘Handle with Care’, was screened at several festivals all around the world and won audience choice for best film at 304 film festival. PJ workshopped her feature drama script with Kalakars.