1. LA Lift Off Film festival (Online only, $12, month long rental of a block of films) Sept. 20-Oct 18. 2021 (DONE)

2. Chicago South Asian Film Festival (Hybrid, online and in person) Sept. 25-Oct 2. 2021 (DONE)

3. Show Low Film Festival, in Show Low AZ (in person only fest) Oct. 15-17. 2021 (DONE)

4. Oregon Scream Week Horror Festival, (in person) October 14, 2021 (DONE)

5. Awareness Festival, Los Angeles (Hybrid) October 21 – 31, 2021 (Live screening Oct 25) (DONE)

6. London Rocks Film Festival, London, UK (Online/In Person Nov 5-7) In person screening is Nov. 5 11pm (contact us for discount codes). (DONE)

7. Yofi Film Festival, Yonkers NY, Sat, Nov 13th, 2021 11:00 AM @ Riverfront Theater (Live screening Nov 13) (DONE)

8. Motion Pictures International Film Festival, Nairobi (online/in person) Nov 18-20 2021 (DONE)

9. Goa Short Film Festival, Goa India (In Person) Nov 20-21 2021 (DONE)

10. Phoenix Shorts, Toronto, Ontario (online/in person) Nov. 25 2021 (DONE)

11. Mumbai Shorts International Film Festival, Mumbai (In person) 05 Dec 2021

12. Shockfest Film Festival, (Online) Dec 10 2021

13. East Europe International Film Festival-Warsaw Edition, (Online) Dec 11 – 18, 2021

14. DC South Asian Film Festival, Washington D.C. (Online) Jan. 16-30 2022

I had the distinct pleasure of getting interviewed by Fusion International Film Festival, leading up to the December edition of their festival. We mainly discussed Mater Mortis, but also delved a little bit into the importance of a functioning healthcare system. Please give it a listen.

I got to share some of my process in color grading Mater Mortis as a factory driver for the color software Colourlab Ai. Normally I tend not to test out new processes on active jobs or projects, but as Mater Mortis was my own creative child, I decided give Colourlab Ai a spin. Check it out!

I got interviewed on Diasporastan. We discuss Mater Mortis, my childhood, growing up, and many other things. It is the absolute works. Give it a listen.

LISTEN to the FULL episode on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4yyloXbr6xo3EbVQDMqgRZ?si=X7akXHJrT86Csl4o19sZMw

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/making-film-your-home-w-rishi-gandhi/id1530832662?i=1000501612520

Stitcher, Google play etc.

My project Mater Mortis, which was 104% funded on Seed&Spark during the before-times in 2019, is currently in the sound/color stages of post-production. I’m looking forward to submitting it to festivals as soon as it’s wrapped. For the Seed&Spark campaign pitch video head here or just watch below. I’ll be sharing more as we get closer to the end.

This is the most personal project I have made to date. This film was really an opportunity to tell stories about South Asian people (MY people) through genre film. I learned from a young age, that the only way to tell the stories of your own people is to tell them yourself. The only way to be more than a punchline, or a stereotype is to go out and do the work. Mater Mortis is my first foray into truly doing that.

Mater Mortis follows an Indian American family, fracturing under the weight of their matriarch’s illness. In this story, the illness is the zombification of the family matriarch, and it highlights the unspoken things between a father and son struggling to deal with their relationship without her.

As a film, it is meant to explore the taboos around mental illness in South Asian communities, as well as the patriarchal relationships between fathers and sons. It is based on my own personal experiences dealing with my mother’s bipolar disorder, and the effects it had on our family. I am excited to share it with the world when it is done. And after that, I look forward to taking my next step into telling more stories about my people.

Fiction + Documentary + Commercial highlight reel of my work

I’m in pre-production on a spec ad for the DOOM boad game. It’s going to be absolutely awesome! Here are some miniatures I painted up and lit for a test shot to help determine the look for the piece.

I painted this Cyberdemon from the DOOM board game for this spec ad. I also created the entire lighting style for the ad as well. My DP for the shoot did an excellent job picking out macro lenses for the miniature scenes.

Two Barons of Hell that I hand painted for the ad.

A revenant that I handpainted from the Doom board game for the ad.

These are a two stills and the poster from my short film Arcade Oratory.  You can view it here