New York Film Academy (NYFA) is excited to announce another year of partnership with the Forum on Life, Culture and Society (FOLCS) International Short Film Competition in a five-day virtual event, culminating in an Awards Night on April 8, 2021.
FOLCS is a non-profit organization that houses culturally relevant conversation topics, providing a unique and enriching experience for audience goers that speaks to the moment with captivating conversations from special guests across multiple industries. NYFA has been a co-host on the FOLCS series of events for the last three years.
The annual FOLCS – International Short Film Competition (F-ISFC) is a special event that showcases short films that explore themes of justice, human rights, and the law by emerging filmmakers from all over the world. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, for the very first time, FOLCS, in partnership with NYFA, will be virtually hosting its annual short film competition, allowing viewers to screen all of the finalist entries over the course of five days starting April 5, 2021.
Finalist films for the FOLCS – International Short Film Competition
This year’s official film selections include titles from Iran, Uzbekistan, Turkey, Malaysia, and the United States, giving entrants the opportunity to have their films shown to a wide audience and films viewed by distinguished professionals including renowned filmmakers, actors, writers, and journalists. Previous F-ISFC judges from NYFA include Cinematography Chair Piero Basso, Screenwriting Chair Randall Dottin, Filmmaking Chair Andrea Swift, and Filmmaking instructor Jonathan Whittaker.
Actor William Fichtner
All ISFC attendees will have the opportunity to vote on their favorite short, which will be counted towards the Audience Favorite Award which will be announced during Awards Night on April 8, 2021. The awards night is open to all F-ISFC ticketholders and will feature a discussion with the finalist filmmakers, NYFA’s own President Michael Young, and actor William Fichtner (Black Hawk Down, Prison Break, The Perfect Storm, The Dark Knight), who will present the award for The Best Short.
HOW TO WATCH THE FILMS & VIRTUALLY ATTEND:
The first 200 people to register for this year’s F-ISFC will receive tickets for the virtual film screenings free of charge, while all other registrants will be charged a $2 fee to unlock the official film selections. To view the F-ISFC slate of films selected for this year’s competition, click here.
New York Film Academy is a proud partner of this year’s FOLCS – International Short Film Competition and looks forward to being part of this special event celebrating aspiring independent filmmakers from around the globe.
New York Film Academy (NYFA) had the honor of welcoming NYFA’s own CLAUDIA RASCHKE to The 20/20 Series, created by NYFA’s Creative Director of Filmmaking and Cinematography, Liz Hinlein. The conversation was moderated by Hinlein and was held virtually, allowing individuals to join NYFA and the special guests from all over the world.
The 20/20 Series, created by Hinlein, is a virtual pop-up event that takes us into the homes, hubs, and workspaces of an array of dynamic creative visionaries to allow for relaxed, engaging conversations on craft, creation, and artistic vision.
Liz Hinlein (Left) and Claudia Raschke (Right) for The 20/20 Series
Claudia Raschke is an award-winning New York City-based cinematographer, whose notable award-winning films include the Oscar-nominated and Emmy award-winning documentary RBG, the Oscar-nominated film God is Bigger Than Elvis (HBO), the Peabody Award-winning film Black Magic (ESPN), the Oscar short-listed Mad Hot Ballroom (Paramount), Particle Fever (Bond), Atomic Homefront (HBO), and The Freedom to Marry (Argot Pictures).
Her new cinematic feature documentary work includes the Sundance Film Festival selected My Name is Pauli Murray (Participant Media) and the 2021 premiere of Julia (CNN /Imagine Entertainment), as well as PBS/American Masters productions of The Code Breaker and Ballerina Boys. It was also recently announced, that Raschke will be lensing the upcoming National Geographic FAUCI documentary about epidemiologist and famed White House COVID-19 pandemic advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci.
One of the topics of conversation between Hinlein and Raschke included a deeper understanding of what it means to be a cinematographer on the set of a documentary, something Raschke knows all too well having lensed multiple award-winning documentaries over the years.
“You have to listen and watch carefully to what is happening right in front of your lens,” shared Raschke. “You are shooting 360. The most essential things to remember are to pay attention with your ears and assess what is the right angle to capture the dynamic or what is relevant at the time. Seize the moment, act quickly, be graceful when you move, and pay attention.”
As for how to shoot something live, Raschke explained her process when it comes to aligning her role as the Director of Photography (DP) with the director’s vision, while also keeping in mind the nature of the content being captured.
“I make great efforts to compare visions [with the director]. If I have a particular storyline, I will ask for films that the director or producer envision how they could fit with their story or whether there’s a particular sensibility that is necessary for the topic that is being shot. Sometimes if you have a film that approaches social issues and you may approach shooting those differently than, say, if you are someone who is shooting a story that is more like a slice of life [documentary].”
Each cinematic approach is tailored to the needs of the film according to Raschke. This includes camera movements, which she explained she doesn’t choreograph, especially when it comes to capturing the vérité moments of the production. “You want to be the cinematographer who sees their superpower as a mirror saying, I am reflecting this to you so you can see a blind spot that you may have.”
Claudia Raschke (Center) filming “RBG” with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg (Left) and Ginsberg’s granddaughter (Right)
A lot of camera movements for this type of cinematography are narrowed down by split-second decisions and include the most unexpected moments of filming. “You certainly train yourself to pay attention to detail. You know your craft,” shared Raschke. “When I get in a situation, I can typically know a good angle and know my options to make a decision in the split of a second.”
It’s those decisions by the DP, as Raschke points out, that are crucial for the audience to see the blind spots of the topic in which they are immersing themselves and allows the audience to see the bigger picture. “You [as the DP] are focusing a good story point. You have to ask yourself, is where I am going with my camera move contributing to the story point?”
“As a cinematographer you want the audience to connect. I am the first viewer of the story and if I feel triggered or emotional I know the audience will identify as well.”
New York Film Academy would like to thank Claudia Raschke for joining the NYFA global community to discuss shooting documentary films as a DP for The 20/20 Series, created by and moderated by Liz Hinlein.
These guests are not faculty and do not teach at NYFA, but they have appeared to share their stories and experience with our students. As guest speakers are scheduled based on their availability, NYFA cannot guarantee whether a guest speaker will visit during a student’s attendance or who that guest speaker may be. This guest speaker forum is not part of any NYFA curriculum and attendance at guest speaker events is purely voluntary. Students should be aware that guest speaker events do not represent a job opportunity nor are they intended to provide industry connections.
New York Film Academy Australia (NYFA Australia) alum Julian Lawrence has multiple blockbusters under his belt. Having tackled Aquaman, Pacific Rim: Uprising, Thor: Ragnarok, and many others, Lawrence will now add one of the biggest cinematic events of 2021 to his list of credits with Godzilla vs. Kong from Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures.
NYFA Australia alum Julian Lawrence
Lawrence, a cinematographer, served as a Digital Imaging Technician (DIT) for the second unit team shooting in Australia. A DIT typically has three primary responsibilities while working on a project: data wrangling and protection, assisting the DP, and managing the dailies. Overall, a DIT has multiple responsibilities as the digital format becomes increasingly advanced and more complicated across the industry. Godzilla vs. Kong is no exception as the film is heavy in digital elements that require the utmost care to uphold quality and creativity across the board for the film.
The Filmmaking alum previously served as a DIT on Den største forbrytelsen and worked as a DIT Utility for Aquaman, Pacific Rim: Uprising, Thor: Ragnarok, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Kong: Skull Island, and Alien: Covenant.
Film poster for “Godzilla vs. Kong”
Godzilla vs. Kong is a sequel to both Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Kong: Skull Island, marking the first convergence of cinematic monsters in Legendary Pictures’ new MonsterVerse. The film will have audiences in the middle of an epic clash between two titan figures of mythic proportions in a battle for the ages. The film will star Millie Bobby Brown, Alexander Skarsgård, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Shun Oguri, Eiza González, and more.
The film marks the fourth film in the MonsterVerse series, the 36th film in the Godzilla franchise, and the 12th film in the King Kong franchise. Originally set for a March 13, 2020 release, the premiere was pushed back due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Audiences will now be able to see Godzilla vs. Kong internationally on March 26, 2021, and in the United States on March 31, where it will be released simultaneously in theaters and on streaming via HBO Max.
New York Film Academy congratulates NYFA Australia alum Julian Lawrence on his recent work on one of the most highly-anticipated films of the year and looks forward to seeing what Lawrence will work on next.
New York Film Academy Australia (NYFA Australia) alum Julian Lawrence has multiple blockbusters under his belt. Having tackled Aquaman, Pacific Rim: Uprising, Thor: Ragnarok, and many others, Lawrence will now add one of the biggest cinematic events of 2021 to his list of credits with Godzilla vs. Kong from Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures.
NYFA Australia alum Julian Lawrence
Lawrence, a cinematographer, served as a Digital Imaging Technician (DIT) for the second unit team shooting in Australia. A DIT typically has three primary responsibilities while working on a project: data wrangling and protection, assisting the DP, and managing the dailies. Overall, a DIT has multiple responsibilities as the digital format becomes increasingly advanced and more complicated across the industry. Godzilla vs. Kong is no exception as the film is heavy in digital elements that require the utmost care to uphold quality and creativity across the board for the film.
The Filmmaking alum previously served as a DIT on Den største forbrytelsen and worked as a DIT Utility for Aquaman, Pacific Rim: Uprising, Thor: Ragnarok, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Kong: Skull Island, and Alien: Covenant.
Film poster for “Godzilla vs. Kong”
Godzilla vs. Kong is a sequel to both Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Kong: Skull Island, marking the first convergence of cinematic monsters in Legendary Pictures’ new MonsterVerse. The film will have audiences in the middle of an epic clash between two titan figures of mythic proportions in a battle for the ages. The film will star Millie Bobby Brown, Alexander Skarsgård, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Shun Oguri, Eiza González, and more.
The film marks the fourth film in the MonsterVerse series, the 36th film in the Godzilla franchise, and the 12th film in the King Kong franchise. Originally set for a March 13, 2020 release, the premiere was pushed back due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Audiences will now be able to see Godzilla vs. Kong internationally on March 26, 2021, and in the United States on March 31, where it will be released simultaneously in theaters and on streaming via HBO Max.
New York Film Academy congratulates NYFA Australia alum Julian Lawrence on his recent work on one of the most highly-anticipated films of the year and looks forward to seeing what Lawrence will work on next.
This month marked ten years since the start of the tragic, still ongoing Syrian civil war. NYFA Broadcast Journalism grad Nour Idriss, who comes from Aleppo, found herself stranded in New York City when all flights back home to Syria were canceled. Enrolling in NYFA, she reinvented herself as a multimedia journalist, then found a home at CBS News. Recently she wasn’t just the producer of stories about the past decade, she became part of the story herself.
She wrote: “I still can’t believe I’m actually doing this! I’m a journalist! And I owe you for this dream I’m living.”
Thank you for your kind words, Nour. I think countless hours of hard work had a lot to do with it too…
It is often said that journalism is the first draft of history. NYFA grad Celina Liv Danielsen can certainly attest to that. A producer/reporter for TV2 In Denmark, she was on-the-scene when violence broke out in Washington DC this past January. Needless to say, it wasn’t the story she thought she was going to report, the official announcement of the winner of the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election.
Livia Fernanda enrolled in NYFA to develop her reporting skills. Up until that point, she had worked strictly as an in-studio weather reporter. Now an on-air reporter with Grupo Jovem Pan in São Paulo, she demonstrated the difference between covering Brazilian Carnival in 2020 and 2021 with two striking photos.
Staying in Brazil (I know, Brasil), congratulations to NYFA Broadcast Journalism grad Beatriz Puente, now producing for CNN Brasil, based in Rio!
When Eduvie Martin came to NYFA from Nigeria, she had already developed strong on-camera skills. What she felt she lacked were the technical skills essential to success. She has over a decade of experience in communications and reputation management for global brands and start-ups in Europe and Africa. And as this Linkedin posting can attest, she can multitask with the best of them!
Lorenzo Capezzuoli Ranchi always looks dapper “on-air,” or I guess I should say “in cyberspace.” He is a regular contributor to the Italian digital media app 264 Zoom. He continues to bring to his stories the same unique qualities that served him so well on the projects he produced as a student here at NYFA.
Elina Mukherjee, who is back home in India, writes: “These days I work at a food/travel/lifestyle channel called Gobble. …venturing into digital content has been a shift from mainstream journalism. But so far I am really enjoying myself.”
Closer to home, NYFA alum Dr. Nicole Cross continues to do great things at Spectrum News in Texas. She is not only a wonderful news anchor, studio host and field reporter. She is also a powerful role model for young African American women, and other women of color, who might be considering a career in Journalism.
Emilie Cruz was recently promoted at ViacomCBS to Senior Manager – Editorial/Creative Strategy. If you look at her LinkedIn page, you’ll notice that she chose for her profile picture a still shot taken from one of the stories she did at NYFA. She’s even holding an NYFA News mic!
Thanks, Emilie!
As regular readers of the Broadcast Journalism Update know, last Summer Evgenia Vlasova and I co-taught a three-week online workshop for early-career Russian journalists. This past January, we all got together (virtually, of course) to find out how everyone was doing. Each participant had produced a story on the theme: 2020 – Not The Year Anyone Expected.
Anastasia Dzutstsati’s story examined The Church In The Era of COVID, while Ekaterina Frolova created a global digital experiment, asking people the question 2020: The End or the Beginning? If you have a few minutes to spare, I have posted these stories and others on Vimeo. They are definitely worth screening.
Stay tuned for NYFA Moscow Journalism Summer School II, taking place this July and August in (hopefully) in Moscow. Support for this innovative enterprise comes from the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.
Finally, I am proud to announce that my independent feature film, Invisible Love, won several prizes at the Paris International Film Festival including Best Narrative Feature. Here is a link to the trailer. Coming to a digital platform or theater near you (if you live in Vietnam or China) soon. Here in the United States? Probably next year…
For more information on NYFA’s Broadcast Journalism program, click here.
New York Film Academy (NYFA) is proud share the outstanding achievements from the 2021 Awards Season recognizing members of the NYFA community, including alumni and guest speakers.
Amid Hollywood’s pandemic year, the 2021 Oscars nominations shattered many records related to diversity and historic milestones that have cemented this year’s ceremony as one to watch. Read more >>
This year, with the pandemic crippling much of Hollywood’s cinema distribution and disrupting filming productions across the globe, the Golden Globes still proved that content was in no short supply for viewers in 2020.Read more >>
NOMINATED – Best Performance by an Actor in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television (Your Honor)
The 2021 Film Independent Spirit Awards aired Thursday, April 22 at 10:00 pm ET and 7:00 pm PT.Read more >>
NYFA Nominations
NOMINATED – Best Motion Picture – Best Feature (Minari)
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) announced its list of nominations for this year’s NAACP Image Awards, an annual awards ceremony crediting the outstanding performances in film, television, music, and literature of the past year. This year, NYFA alumni and guest speakers were among the list of distinguished nominees across multiple categories.
In addition to the NYFA community’s nominations, alum Paquita Hughes worked on the production team for the Hulu drama Little Fires Everywhere, starring Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon. Ten-time nominee Jingle Jangle from David E. Talbert was worked on by alum Francesco Panzieri, who worked as the in-house compositing supervisor for the film. Read more >>
The 27th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards was simulcast on TNT and TBS on Sunday, April 4, 2021.
NYFA guest speaker and Minari producer Christina Oh’s film received three nominations for her cast, including Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role (Yuh-Jung Youn – WON), and Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role (Steven Yeun).
NYFA alum Shivani Rawat’s The Trial of The Chicago 7 received three nominations including Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role (Sacha Baron Cohen), and Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture.
WINNER – Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture (The Trial of The Chicago 7)
This year, NYFA alum Akinola Davies Jr. won the Short Film Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival for his film Lizard. Read more >>
NYFA Awards
WINNER – NYFA Filmmaking alum Akinola Davies Jr.; Short Film Grand Jury Prize (Lizard).
New York Film Academy congratulates all of this year’s nominees and winners and looks forward to seeing the incredible creative work recognized in 2022.
New York Film Academy (NYFA) had the honor of hosting a live video Q&A with the producer of the Oscar front-runner film Minari, Christina Oh, to discuss the production of the film, awards season, and more with NYFA students and alumni. Tova Laiter, Director of the NYFA Q&A-List Series, curated and moderated the event.
Christina Oh is a production executive at Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment. She has executive produced Bong Joon Ho’s Okja, David Michôd’s The King, and Jon Stewart’s Irresistible. She was the associate producer on Adam McKay’s Oscar-nominated VICE, and Ad Astra, which starred Brad Pitt. She also worked as a producer on The Last Black Man in San Francisco (A24). Her latest work as a producer on Minari has earned Oh a PGA nomination for her work on the award-winning film, which won Best Foreign Language Film at this year’s Golden Globes.
Tova Laiter (Left) and Christina Oh (Right) for NYFA’s Q&A-List
Oh got her start in the business in the mailroom of Brillstein Entertainment Partners, who managed Brad Pitt. This led to Oh working as an assistant at Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment and eventually (10 years later) becoming an Academy Award-nominated producer.
“I have to credit the company [Plan B]. Starting out a long time ago, I feel like I grew up at the company with films like 12 Years a Slave and World War Z. When Okja happened, they told me ‘we think you’re ready and it’s going to happen in Korea. Can you get there soon and go over there?’ It was like my dad asking ‘are you ready to drive a car’ and asking to drive it for many miles.”
Alan Kim (Left) and Steven Yeun (Right) in “Minari” (A24)
Oh explained how Okja was a huge turning point for her and how having the opportunity to go to Korea for the initial prep, going location scouting, attending budget meetings, and being around for principal photography shooting was a special experience. “It was a big learning opportunity for me.”
From one award-winning project to another, Oh now finds herself as the first Asian American woman to receive a nod for Best Picture at the Oscars for her work as a producer on Lee Isaac Chung’s Minari. Oh initially came by the script through her friend and lead actor Steven Yeun. As she read the script, Oh knew it was something special.
Producer Khaliah Nea (Left) and Christina Oh (Right) at the Sundance Film Festival
After packaging the film together, Oh, who had previously worked on The Last Black Man in San Francisco, brought Minari to A24, who agreed to finance it for the relatively low budget of $2 million, and then it was time to cast it and start filming. Oh explained that, all together, the shoot had an incredibly trusting and positive environment, with the cast and crew working closely together during their summertime shoot.
“When you have trust in your director and your director trusts you, it creates an environment where it’s very easy to work together. I am by no means a director or a director of photography, but it was a very cool and welcoming set where we made a lot of decisions together. It was a very holistic approach to filmmaking.”
Oh explained to students that the role of a producer can be a thankless job and no one may understand all of what you do, but having a team that can work together makes all the difference. “I love it [being a producer],” she shared. “You have to believe the material you are making. Find a good line producer, they are your best friends and will help build the crew properly. Producing and making a film is a collaborative effort.”
93rd Annual Academy Award card nominating “Minari” for Best Picture
Minari has been making the rounds during award season, recently nabbing the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film and two Critics’ Choice Awards, including one for newcomer Alan Kim for Best Young Performer. Now, the film is nominated in six categories including Best Film and Best Screenplay at the 93rd Academy Awards.
Answering the question from a Korean-American student, Christina admittedly became emotional: “Making Minari was a bit meditative for me and it made me understand my parents, how hard it was for them, and (allowed me) to bridge my own gap with them. That was what was behind the emotionality in making it. I’m incredibly humbled and filled with gratitude for this moment,” shared Oh. Laiter agreed that this sentiment and authenticity made the film resonate with global audiences.
New York Film Academy would like to thank Christina Oh for sharing her time and experience making Minari with NYFA students and wishes Oh and her team all the best during the upcoming Oscars ceremony on Sunday, April 25, 2021.
These guests are not faculty and do not teach at NYFA, but they have appeared to share their stories and experience with our students. As guest speakers are scheduled based on their availability, NYFA cannot guarantee whether a guest speaker will visit during a student’s attendance or who that guest speaker may be. This guest speaker forum is not part of any NYFA curriculum and attendance at guest speaker events is purely voluntary. Students should be aware that guest speaker events do not represent a job opportunity nor are they intended to provide industry connections.
Rajni Mysore Chamaraj, along with her younger sister Shynica Mysore Chamaraj made The Day I Met Joshua, a short film about a social media influencer who encounters a path of self-discovery in the desert. The film was written, directed, and edited by both Chamaraj and Shynica and was screened at the Canadian Academy qualifying festival, Yellowknife Film Festival. The short film also garnered Chamaraj a Best Debut Director award at the Hollywood Film Awards and the Best Editor award in the New York Movie Awards.
Film poster for “The Day I Met Joshua”
“I always felt that film combined the paradox of human nature so well, sometimes the simplicity of a character has left a deep impact. It brought about many changes, subtle, yet life-changing for me. This thought always lingered as to how visual storytelling overcomes all the barriers, be it geography, the human mindsets, or cultural barriers.” – Rajni Mysore Chamaraj
Chamaraj got her start in Mumbai as the Assistant Creative Director for a television show on Star Plus, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company, and eventually became involved in sports broadcasting as an Assistant Producer, creating live and pre-recorded content for sports including NBA games, Champions League, FIFA-U19 World Cup, French Open, World Rally Championship, PGA tours exclusive for the Indian audience.
After nearly working for four years in the television industry, Chamaraj took her first step to follow her dream of being a storyteller and made the tough decision to leave her job and take-up full-time filmmaking. Her younger sister Shynica, also a filmmaker, was a big influence on that decision. With both siblings having a strong love of the universal language of film and understanding of the other, both knew they needed to pursue filmmaking and eventually work together.
“As siblings, we always influenced each other synergistically through our 3:00 a.m. philosophical discussions or just staring randomly into the cityscape of Mumbai with the Arabian Sea in the backdrop,” recalled Chamaraj. “It’s during one such moment, it struck me that I should also get into serious filmmaking and that my sister and I would make a brilliant team. So our idea of teaming up as a family was born with an idea to create an entertainment company that creates multimedia content inspired by regional themes for a worldwide audience. Essentially, we want to use the power of filmmaking to create content that inspires and elevates the human spirit and Entertainment studio that nourishes and mothers evolved, elevated entertainment.”
Before venturing into the business of filmmaking, however, Chamaraj wanted to hone her skills and began talking to friends and colleagues about their own film industry journey, leading Rajni to learn more about New York Film Academy.
“I attended a two-month program in NYFA Mumbai and instantly fell in love with their teaching methods. You shoot and learn from your mistakes, and there was more hands-on experience than theory classes. The faculty were from around the world which gave me a glimpse into how a long-term program would look like.”
Photo courtesy of Rajni Mysore Chamaraj
Eventually, Chamaraj applied and got accepted into the Film & Media Production MA program at NYFA’s Los Angeles campus. “While living in Los Angeles and studying in NYFA, the biggest advantage I got was that I worked on projects that had crew members from around the world. You get real-life experience of working on a film set right In the collage. [Students] can use this wonderful opportunity and make mistakes and learn from them too. It’s just a preparation for you to face the real world that’s not always as conducive as you would like it to be.”
“I am an Indian, the whole process of filmmaking is pretty different in India compared to the American way, so I had to learn a lot of new things such as division of work, laws of the land, and constantly update myself with the latest equipment, and technologies. So as an international student, you need to learn to adapt. You’ll learn that this is an important key that can make your career as a filmmaker outside your home country a little less stressful and a little more enjoyable. Go put your best foot forward, The staff and faculty at NYFA will be with you every step of the way. There were always there for me when I needed them.” – Rajni Mysore Chamaraj
Poster for “The Day I Met Joshua”
Now, Chamaraj and her sister are in the thick of their careers, with the recent success of their short film The Day I Met Joshua, which received a positive global response on the film festival circuit.
The film is based on Chamaraj’s own experience while on a vacation in Florida. “My phone became unusable as its entire software crashed. That night, I had a sense of awakening because it felt like a personal loss, How could a mere gadget have such a deep impact on me?”
Chamaraj and Shynica then wrote the film and shot it in the Mojave desert. “It was both a challenging and exciting experience. On the third day of the shoot, we even had unexpected rain, we had to stop shooting for a bit,” she remembered. “While shooting in nature, we have to be extra prepared as we are fighting the uncontrollable elements and all this with a cool head.”
Shooting “The Day I Met Joshua”
“We had crews representing almost nine different counties, from India, the USA, Cuba, Ireland to China. So as a team, we had to learn to communicate with each other effectively, considering each one of us was from different cultural backgrounds, it was important to keep the overall morale of the whole team-high and positive.”
In post-production, the film took its shape. With the film marking the first time Chamaraj and Shynica were officially working together, their whole family celebrated their Best Original Story win at Hollywood Gold Awards. “Even more surreal was when our film was screened to a private audience at the Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank in the very same auditorium where an iconic film like Casablanca was screened for the very first time.”
Poster for “Finding Home”
Chamaraj currently resides in India and is working on getting her work visa in the U.S. During the pandemic, the NYFA alum wrote, directed, and edited a short Spanish web series in LA called Finding Home, which is currently streaming on Amazon Prime UK and US. As of now, Chamaraj is working on a four-part anthology series about the lives of four urban Indian girls living in different cities of India.
“We just shot the first part in Hyderabad city,” she shared. “I am also working as a screenwriter for an Indo-American feature film to be shot in mid of 2022. It’s going to be an exciting ride, I am looking forward to following my heart and dedicating all my energies to bring to life the stories that have had a deep impact on my life.”
New York Film Academy is excited to share the success of Rajni Mysore Chamaraj and her sister for the film The Day I Met Joshua and looks forward to seeing Chamaraj’s upcoming projects come to fruition in the near future.
New York Film Academy (NYFA) is thrilled to announce that MFA Filmmaking alum Meital Cohen Navarro has won the George Sidney Independent Film Competition at the world-class San Luis Obispo International Festival (SLO Film Fest) for her NYFA thesis film, Over My Dead Body. The film screened at the festival March 9 – 14, 2021.
Film poster for “Over My Dead Body”
Over My Dead Body is written, directed, and produced by Israeli-born female filmmaker Meital Cohen Navarro. Her short film explores the taboo of religious intolerance and inter-cultural marriage after a young Jewish Persian-American woman named Isfahan tells her parents that her fiancé is Muslim.
Over My Dead Body had its world premiere at the prestigious UK Jewish Film Festival in London last November and its North American Premiere at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival. Ahead of the film’s West Coast premiere at SLO Film Fest last week, Cohen Navarro also received critical acclaim for Over My Dead Body from Voice of America, National Magazine Kayhan London, and the Jewish Journal.
NYFA alum Meital Cohen Navarro
“As a grandchild of immigrants, making this film was an amazing journey,” recalled Cohen Navarro. “I hope the film helps families with intergenerational rifts to better understand each other: for parents to see the toll it has on their children and for the younger generation to acknowledge their parents’ equally heartbreaking cultural challenges.”
Behind the scenes during filming “Over My Dead Body”
Shot in English and Farsi, Over My Dead Body features Muslim, Christian, and Jewish actors and iconic stars of Persian cinema Mary Apick (Dead End) and Bahram Vatanparast (Zan-e bakere) in leading roles.
“I believe our role as filmmakers is to project a view of our daily lives onto the silver screen with such sincerity and honesty as possible,” shared Apick. “Each character must face all challenges and obstacles that we all face every day in today’s world. Meital Cohen Navarro has certainly accomplished that delicately and beautifully in the film Over My Dead Body.”
New York Film Academy congratulates Meital Cohen Navarro on her well-deserved win for her film Over My Dead Body at the SLO Film Fest, and looks forward to when her short film will be available to the public.
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The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
