February 1, 2018

Filmmaker

Rishi Chandna is a self-taught, independent filmmaker based in Mumbai and Goa. His debut short film, TUNGRUS (2018), is a black comedy about a Mumbai suburban family divided over eating their dominating pet rooster. It has traveled to 150+ international film festivals (Hot Docs, Visions Du Reel, BFI London Film Festival, IDFA), won 28 awards, and became an Oscar-qualifying short documentary after winning at Slamdance Film Festival, 2019. Tungrus (www.tungrus.com) has released online on the prestigious New York Times’ OP-DOCS, PBS POV SHORTS, The Criterion Channel and several other platforms such as Atlantic Selects, Amazon Prime and Aeon Magazine. In 2018, at the first CCSFA (Critics’ Choice Short Film Awards) held in India, Tungrus was awarded Best Non-Fiction Film, Rishi was awarded Best Director Non-Fiction, and Neha Mehra was awarded Best Editor. Along with Rishi’s interviews, reviews of Tungrus have appeared in top publications in India and abroad such as New York Times, The Globe and Mail, The Hindu, Indian Express, Scroll, Film Companion and more. 

Rishi’s second short film, PARTY POSTER (2022), a satirical documentary about the political poster culture in India, had its World Premiere at the 36th Fribourg International Film Festival, where it won the CH Cinema Award, awarded by a Swiss student jury. The film has also shown at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, Krakow Film Festival, International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala (awarded Second Best Short Documentary Award, International Short Film Competition), DocAviv, Glasgow Short Film Festival and more. On November 21, 2002, Party Poster released online on New York Times’ OP-DOCS, making it Rishi’s second film to launch on the reputable platform dedicated to short documentaries from around the globe. 

Rishi is currently in development of his first feature-length fiction film titled GHOL/THE CATCH. The project has been mentored at the 2021 Sundance Screenwriters Lab, and selected at the Cannes Film Market 2021, the 2021 NFDC Film Bazaar Co-Production Market and the 2021 Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum where it won the top HAF Fiction Award for a non – Hong Kong project. He is also in the midst of filming an anthology of three short Tamil fiction films (working title: Tannîr Tales) that represent marginalised communities dealing with issues of climate change and political disenfranchisement in the context of water pollution, access and inequality. 

Rishi has also programmed films for Mumbai Film Festival (MAMI, 2019), and Slamdance Film Festival (2020). In 2019, he was the first filmmaker featured on Film Companion’s ‘Artist To Watch For’, a series by renowned film critic Anupama Chopra, that introduces viewers to the rising stars of the Indian film industry.