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Geetika Narang Abbasi

Born and brought up in Delhi, India, Geetika Narang Abbasi pursued advertising after completing her graduation in English Literature from Delhi University. Soon, her love for films led her to the field of filmmaking. Having worked on various genres of filmmaking, from documentaries to TV commercials, she ventured into independent filmmaking with her first short fiction film Good Night (2008). The film was honoured with awards and critical acclaim at several film festivals across the world. The award citation at the International Film Festival of India calls the film a “true to life depiction of human situation through deep touching moments of humour and empathy.”

Subsequently, she has edited and directed several documentaries that have been recognized and showcased nationally as well as internationally. She has collaborated with organizations like Centre for Science and Environment, World Wide Fund, German Development Cooperation (GIZ), and Public Service Broadcasting Trust, among others. Climate change, society and culture have been some of the recurrent themes of her works. Besides, she draws a lot of influence from her surroundings, popular culture and films, and likes to tell stories that she can relate with.

Her latest documentary Much Ado About Knotting (2012) is about matchmaking – India’s favourite pastime that borders on a national obsession! The film is currently enjoying a successful run at film festivals worldwide.

Her next venture is a documentary about cross-border marriages between Indians and Pakistanis.

Yasir Abbassi

Yasir Abbasi is a Director of Photography from India. Starting out with shooting documentaries, he did a spate of social films with organizations from all over the world like Save the Children and CARE. After having shot for travelogues and wildlife films for television channels like Discovery Channel and Channel 4, he made his debut in production with the short film Good Night, directed by Geetika Narang. The film won him the “Best Cinematography Award” at the Fulmarxx Shorts Fest. The film also won the Silver Lamp Tree Award in the Short Film Center section of the International Film Festival of India (2008) and the Best Short Film Award at the Indo-American Arts Council film festival in New York. He won the “Certificate of Merit for Best Cinematography” at the IDPA Awards (2011) for A Drop of Sunshine, directed by Aparna Sanyal.