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Profile Complete
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Profile Complete
Asawari is an independent queer director - producer based in Mumbai, also a founding member of a company called Anat, a platform that focuses on narratives that are about- by, women, trans, intersex, non-binary and gender queer individuals. They are also a founding member of Star Hopper Studios, a queer-led cross-disciplinary collective based in Mumbai/Delhi, focusing on experimental brand videos, curation, and intersectional narratives. Asawari was one of the jurors in the Direction category for D&AD's 2021 awards. Asawari is a Cultural Management in Digital Age Fellow 2021, supported by Goethe Institute (Mumbai) and Art X (Mumbai). Asawari is a BeFantastic Fellow supported by Goethe Institute (Mumbai/Germany) - the project is a an open source platform dedicated for Gender Neutral Language, and finding new methods of making communication inclusive of non-binary and gender diverse folx.
Asawari studied at the London Film School and holds a Masters in Experimental Film from Kingston University, UK. Their first short film ‘The Housemaids’ that they directed & produced was acquired by Pramod Films(India) and has had it’s official selection in Women make Waves, Taiwan 2018, Bangalore Queer Film Festival 2019, IAWRT Asian Women’s Film Festival 2019. The Housemaids is now streaming on Amazon Prime (USA/UK) and Disney+Hotstar (India). Their other short films have screened at the ICA (UK) and White Chappel Gallery (UK). Asawari has directed brand films for organisations like Anat, Shaadi.com, Cipla, Unilever, VH1 and Fox Star Studios.
Asawari has worked as a collaborating filmmaker with artists and organisations across India, UK and Sweden - to name a few, The Ahhhness of Things(UK), Wales Art Review (UK), British Council (Wales/India), The Company Theatre (India), Serendipity Arts Festival (India), Clowns without Borders(Sweden).
As a curator, Asawari has curated films with Anat, and they recently curated a photography series themed ‘Questioning Masculinities’ for Social (the Bar) during their 2020 Pride month.
On a mission to bring more queer and womxn representation in our current visual culture, Asawari wants to capture the essence of what contemporary India could look like. Films and visual arts is how they navigate themself in finding their decolonised self and meaning behind what they do.