Entertainment / Canadian South Asians Win Big At The Oscar®-Qualifying Tasveer South Asian Film Festival

Canadian South Asians Win Big At The Oscar®-Qualifying Tasveer South Asian Film Festival

Entertainment Nov 03, 2025

by Farah Khan | Editorial Director

At the landmark 20th edition of the Tasveer Film Festival and Market in Seattle, four filmmaking teams with Canadian South Asian roots took home top honours — securing more than $115,000 USD (approximately $161,000 CAD) through the Tasveer-Netflix Film Fund and Tasveer Producers Lab.

Tasveer, the only Oscar®-qualifying South Asian film festival, has grown into a vital platform for diasporic creators, supporting bold stories that bridge culture, identity, and innovation. With backing from industry leaders including Monkeypaw Productions, Hello Sunshine, Waititi, and Atomic Monster, the festival’s initiatives provide mentorship, production support, and access to international networks for filmmakers across North America.

“At Tasveer, we’re proud to champion bold South Asian storytellers whose work transcends borders — and this year’s Canadian, women-led winners are a powerful testament to the strength and vision of our shared community,” said Tasveer Film Festival Co-Founder Rita Meher.

The Canadian South Asian Winners

Rising Tide

Director: Andrea Drepaul | Writer: Richard Young | Producer: Erin Purghart | Co-producer: Praneet Akilla

Rising Tide follows a pregnant Indo-Caribbean Canadian woman confronting the ghost of her estranged father. The film explores themes of intergenerational trauma, reconciliation, and rebirth through the lens of magical realism.

“Rising Tide is about healing and telling our stories on our own terms. This recognition shows that Indo-Caribbean experiences have a place on screen,” said director Andrea Drepaul.

The creative team combines award-winning Canadian talent:

Andrea Drepaul, BC-based Indo-Guyanese director and actor, known for Supernatural, Nancy Drew, and The Expanse.
Richard Young, Indo-Caribbean Canadian writer and three-time Canadian Screen Award nominee (Dino Ranch, Overlord and the Underwoods, Maternal).
Erin Purghart, producer and actor whose credits include DTF? and She’s Nonbinary, executive-produced by Bob Odenkirk and Jane Schoenbrun.
Praneet Akilla, actor-producer known for Nancy Drew, Motherland: Fort Salem, October Faction, and Skymed.
Saarthak Taneja, Vancouver-based cinematographer recognized for his dramatic imagery in Foreigner and DTF?.

Petticoat

Director/Producer: Priyanka Shailendra | Writers: Renuka Singh & Shevon Singh

Set during a family puja, Petticoat centres on a young Indo-Fijian woman whose public humiliation drives her toward a disturbing act of self-control.

“Our story is about the polite violences we inherit, the price of seeming ‘put together’ and how an unravelling can become a revelation,” said director Priyanka Shailendra.

Shailendra, a Toronto-based producer-director with over 15 years in the Indian film industry, brings an eye for emotional precision and cinematic tension.

Writers Renuka Singh and Shevon Singh, both from British Columbia, are acclaimed screenwriters whose work challenges fixed identities while examining belonging, familial duty, and self-fulfillment.

Together, the trio delivers an unapologetic feminist body-horror film capturing the quiet strength required to claim one’s identity.

Wellness

Director/Writer: Gayatri Everitt Bajpai | Producer: Kajri Akhtar

A dark comedy about two sisters tasked with serving divorce papers to their elusive father at a silent retreat, Wellness unfolds through absurdity and affection as the women are pulled into the retreat’s strange rituals of “healing.”

“We wanted to explore the humour and absurdity of family dysfunction in the diaspora–and tell a South Asian story that felt off-kilter and a little bit irreverent,” said writer-director Gayatri Everitt Bajpai.

Gayatri Everitt Bajpai, a Canadian filmmaker with roots in New Delhi and Vancouver, is known for Halwa (HBO APA Visionaries winner, Disney+ licence) and Designed by Preeti (winner of multiple North American festival awards).

Kajri Akhtar, a Los Angeles-based independent producer, has built an award-winning slate including Zari, Advanced Chemistry, Ek Onkar, Chutney Manor, and Comfort Food. Her background with Aamir Khan Productions, Dharma Productions, Viacom18, and Excel Entertainment further grounds her storytelling in cross-cultural collaboration.

Dusky Fever

Producer: Alison Almeida | Director/Writer: Kalainithan Kalaichelvan

Canadian producer Alison Almeida earned $10,000 USD through the Tasveer Producers Lab for the feature project Dusky Fever, which explores themes of identity, belonging, and self-worth through a provocative narrative.

“Through this story, we challenge how identity and culture are perceived, while celebrating the complexities of South Asian experiences,” said director-writer Kalainithan Kalaichelvan.

The film follows a young white woman who undergoes a radical procedure to reconnect with her Tamil ex-boyfriend, raising provocative questions of race, self-worth, and cultural appropriation.

Alison Almeida produced Karupy (TIFF 2025) and associate-produced Boxcutter (SXSW 2025), The Well (Fantasia 2025), Shook (TIFF 2024), and Bonjour Tristesse (TIFF 2024).

Kalainithan Kalaichelvan, a Tamil-Canadian writer-director, is known for Karupy (2025), Junglefowl (2023), and A Feller and the Tree (2021), and is an alumnus of the CFC Norman Jewison Directors Lab.

Amplifying Diasporic Voices

Together, these four projects exemplify the depth and diversity of Canadian South Asian storytelling, spanning genres from magical realism and feminist horror to comedy and speculative identity drama.

By finding international pathways to share their work, these filmmakers are carving out a new cinematic language for the diaspora — one that moves beyond familiar tropes to explore healing, belonging, and transformation.

Their collective success at Tasveer underscores a clear message: Canadian South Asian stories are no longer emerging — they are leading.

Farah Khan | Editorial Director

Author

Farah Khan manages the editorial department at ANOKHI LIFE, overseeing content production, publishing, and the annual editorial calendar, while also supporting operations, projects, systems, events, and vendor coordination.

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