Language of Opportunity
TFI Suppport
TFI Network 2020
Logline
Set against the backdrop of rising nationalism, LANGUAGE OF OPPORTUNITY contrasts the immigrant experience of Indian families in the US with the aspirations of migrant families in urban India to discover how inextricably language is woven into our identity. Filmmaker Anuradha Rana dissects the role of language diversity in its formation and pursuit of a more tolerant society.
Anuradha Rana
Director, Producer
Based in the US and India, Anuradha Rana is an independent filmmaker who has produced and directed award-winning films internationally. Her films focus on themes of identity, representation, and varied perspectives in a global environment. She is currently in production on LANGUAGE OF OPPORTUNITY (working title), a feature-length documentary about how language informs personal and cultural identity. The film was developed through the Diverse Voices in Docs Fellowship at Kartemquin Films and was selected for the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) Fellowship. She is in post-production on WAITING FOR WINTER (wt), a portrait of four women mushers in the Upper-Midwest. Her short documentary, COUNTER//BALANCE, played at over 50 festivals around the world and she is producing BREWER, a short poetic documentary that highlights women in brewing and normalizes their presence in a male-dominated space. The film was one of five projects selected to pitch at Tribeca If/Then shorts.
Anuradha is the program coordinator for the Diverse Voices in Doc Fellowship organized by Kartemquin Films (HOOP DREAMS, MINDING THE GAP). She was named one of Chicago Film’s 50 Screen Gems of 2019 by Newcity Magazine. She is an Associate Professor at the School of Cinematic Arts at DePaul University.
B. Rich
Cinematographer, Producer
B. Rich is a writer, filmmaker, designer, teacher and storyteller. He holds an MFA in Film/Video, and a BA in Biology. He writes and directs both fiction and nonfiction films, shoots his own and others’ documentaries, and seeks to distill complex concepts and issues into relatable stories that speak across boundaries, ‘bubbles’ and differences. He weaves stories across multiple media formats, like games, interactive designs and virtual reality. His love of non-fiction is grounded in his desire to experience others’ cultures and see the world through their eyes as authentically as possible. His creative focus never strays far from his interests in the environment, sustainable development, gender, aging and inequity.
Chithra Jeyaram
Editor
Chithra Jeyaram makes intimate films about identity, human relationships, race, art, and health. She is a director and editor and has an M.F.A in film production from the University of Texas in Austin. She is known for the short documentary RAGS TO PADS, a 3-minute film about menstrual hygiene in India. Her other short documentary MIJO, aired on KLRU TV, PBS and played in fifty film festivals around the world.