Grants & Awards

About the Film:

From directors Senain Kheshgi and Geeta V. Patel comes Project Kashmir – a feature documentary in which the directors, two American friends from opposite sides of the divide, investigate the war in Kashmir and find their friendship tested over deeply rooted political, cultural and religious biases they never had to face in the U.S. PROJECT KASHMIR explores war between countries and war within oneself by delving into the fraught lives of young people caught in the social/political conflict of one of the most beautiful, and most deadly, places on earth–Kashmir. Beautifully lensed by Academy Award® winner, Ross Kauffman, the film captures the stunning beauty of Kashmir, while expertly interweaving deeply moving personal stories of Kashmiris with those of the two American women, who strive to reconcile their ethnic and religious heritage with the violence that haunts their homeland.

About the Filmmakers:

Senain Kheshgi is a Pakistani-American journalist and filmmaker who has produced, written and directed projects for numerous networks including, CNN, ABC NEWS, PBS, Discovery, as well as The BBC AND CHANNEL 4 in the UK. Senain co-produced her first feature documentary, The First Year with Academy Award winning director, Davis Guggenheim (Academy Award winner for An Inconvenient Truth) which was broadcast on PBS in 2001 and was awarded the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award. She has also produced and developed projects with Academy Award winner, Ross Kauffman, Shari Berman and Robert Pulcini (directors of Sundance Award Winner, American Splendor) as well as with Sophie Fiennes (sister of Ralph and Joseph Fiennes and director of the BBC film, Hoover Street Revival).

Senain has a keen interest in exploring the intersection of faith and politics, as well as religious and cultural conflict, human rights, and interfaith dialogue through film and media. In 2001, Senain directed Family Recipe, a short film about the legacy of Partition and its effect on her family for the Queen’s Museum of Art in New York and in 2008, she directed Kitchen Diplomacy, a film commissioned by Morgan Spurlock’s documentary company, CINELAN. The film was one of four films made by American documentary filmmakers about the historic US elections. She recently completed Project Kashmir, a feature documentary filmed by Ross Kauffman (Oscar-winner for Born Into Brothels) in which she and her Indian-American friend investigate the war in Kashmir and find their friendship tested over deeply rooted religious and cultural divides. The film interweaves deeply moving personal stories of Kashmiris with those of the two American women, who strive to reconcile their ethnic and religious heritage with the violence that haunts their homeland. Project Kashmir has been awarded grants from ITVS/PBS, The Sundance Institute, Cinereach, The Fledgling Fund, The Center for Asian American Media among others. Project Kashmir premiered at the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival in New York in 2008 and will continue to screen internationally with a US broadcast scheduled on PBS in 2010. The film has also been selected by the US State Department to be screened at over 55 embassies and consulates around the world.

Senain was a Tribeca All Access Fellow in 2005, a Sundance Institute Fellow in 2006, where she attended the Documentary Editing, Composer and Producing Labs and she is a recipient of the Rockefeller Foundation’s ReNew Media Film Fellowship. Senain was recently awarded a prestigious Asia 21 Fellowship from The Asia Society, which aims to help prepare young leaders for the challenges and responsibilities of global citizenship. In 2008, she was selected as a Filmmaking Fellow for Jehane Noujaim’s global, Pangea Day. Senain has served on the selection committee for the International Documentary Association’s DocuWeek Documentary Showcase which helps qualify documentaries for Oscar® Consideration and she frequently speaks on panels and conducts workshops on ways to incorporate social justice engagement and documentary filmmaking. She serves on the Board of Directors of Ciné, an art and cultural institution in her hometown of Athens, Georgia and is also on the Board of Directors of The International Documentary Association in Los Angeles.

Indian American Filmmaker Geeta Patel is Writer/Director of both documentary and dramatic feature films. She was recently Visiting Artist in Belarus and Turkey, as one of 29 filmmakers chosen for a new US State Department initiative in the arts. Currently, she is writer/director of a narrative martial arts feature entitled Mouse and a romantic comedy documentary film entitled One in a Billion. Geeta directed the Sundance/ITVS funded documentary feature entitled Project Kashmir, set to premiere on PBS in 2010. She began her career as the youngest Associate Screenwriter in Hollywood, working with award-winning writers and directors of big-budget films.

A former Sundance Institute Directing Fellow and Tribeca TAA Fellow, Geeta has taught Master Classes and served as Visiting Lecturer in Universities around the world. She is a Filmmaking Advisor for the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM), served on the Nomination Committee for the Rockefeller Foundation/Renew Media’s Media Art’s Fellowship as well as the IDA’s (International Documentary Association) DocuWeek and CAAM selection committees. A graduate in Comparative Area Studies at Duke University, Geeta’s background in film, languages, and international relations informs her work as a writer and filmmaker. While studying in Berlin, Writer/Director Anthony Minghella inspired her to pursue a career in Storytelling.

Festival & Award Highlights:

Human Rights Watch Film Festival 2008 – World Premiere