Live From The South Asian Lodge At Sundance 2023

I’ve completely lost my voice after this episode. That should help me with the whole podcasting thing…what a weekend! Sundance Institute Film Festival has been on my bucket list since I was small enough to bathe in buckets. So, a very long time. We were super excited to participate in the first-ever South Asian Lodge hosted by filmmaker and director Shruti Ganguly, author, writer, and producer Tanya Selvaratnam and the non-profit organization 1497, whose mission is to support and uplift talent of South Asian descent to challenge their historical exclusion from and underrepresentation in the American film and TV industry. A special shoutout to The Product of Culture team and Kis Cubed Events for making helping make the impossible, possible. The entire weekend ran smoothly from beginning to end. The two days of programming included a 20th anniversary celebration of Bend It Like Beckham, as the movie’s 2003 premiere at Sundance marked a watershed event for South Asian representation in film. Live podcasting at the South Asian Lodge was a little too fun. From chatting with Nisha Ganatra about why kichdi (Indian rice) is so good to reassuring Nik Dodani that I will not ask him to be my mentor, it was a weekend of celebration, community support, and a ton of dancing-courtesy of the indomitable DJ Rekha I was also absolutely blown away by Rupi Kaur, not just her performance but how kind and genuine she was. We heard from legends such as Gurinder Chadha ,celebrating 20 years of Bend It Like Beckham and from the Creating With Pride panel, honoring Queer South Asian artists. The panel on Black and Brown Unity and Division, On and Off Screen was also another reminder on how important it is for our communities to support one another. I think the honest and vulnerable discussions over the weekend brought us all a little closer together. So congratulations to the entire team for putting this historic event together. It was a weekend full of love, celebration, and beautiful art.

Tuckered Out with Ami Thakkar