Nisha Pahuja facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Nisha Pahuja
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Pahuja in 2012
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| Born | 3 June 1967 New Delhi, India
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| Occupation | Writer, filmmaker, artist |
Nisha Pahuja (born in 1967) is a talented filmmaker from Canada. She was born in India and now lives in Toronto. She is known for making documentaries, which are films that tell real stories about real people.
Her most famous film is To Kill a Tiger. This documentary was nominated for an Academy Award and won 19 other awards. It was shown at big film festivals like the TIFF and the Palm Springs International Film Festival. The film was released in theaters in the US in the Fall of 2023. Famous people like Mindy Kaling and Dev Patel helped produce the film.
Nisha Pahuja has also made other important films. These include The World Before Her, which was nominated for an Emmy award. She also made Bollywood Bound and a three-part series called Diamond Road.
Contents
Early Life and Moving to Canada
Nisha Pahuja was born in India. In the early 1970s, when she was a child, her family moved to Canada. This was a big change for her. She grew up experiencing a new "western lifestyle." Even though she loved Bollywood films, she was more interested in literature and writing.
Becoming a Filmmaker
Nisha studied English Literature at the University of Toronto. She originally planned to write fiction stories. However, a chance meeting changed her path. She met a Canadian producer, Geeta Sondhi, who hired her as a researcher for a documentary. This experience led Nisha into the world of documentary filmmaking.
Nisha chose to make documentaries because she loves finding real people with real stories. She believes these stories help us understand bigger problems in society. She feels a strong connection to real people and their experiences. She once said, "A human being reveals themselves to you in such a profound kind of way. I think I was just really drawn to that, to the idea of real people, real stories and being able to connect to them."
Early in her career, Nisha worked with other Canadian filmmakers. Soon after, she started making her own films.
Films and Their Impact
Nisha's films have been successful around the world, including in North America and India. One of her notable films is The World Before Her. This film looked at the different lives of young girls in India. It followed women competing in the Miss India Pageant and girls training in a group called Durga Vahini.
The World Before Her won the Best Documentary award at the Tribeca International Film Festival. It also won several other awards at festivals worldwide. These included Best Canadian Documentary at Hot Docs.
After a serious event in Delhi in 2012, Nisha wanted her film The World Before Her to be seen across India. She hoped it would help people think about women's rights. She and her team raised money to show the film in many places. They even used a website called Kickstarter to get donations. They raised more than their goal!
In 2014, a famous filmmaker named Anurag Kashyap helped release the film in India. Nisha and her team traveled to different states. They worked with groups that help women. They showed the film in communities and had important discussions with audiences. This experience showed Nisha how much documentaries can help create positive change in the world. She believes that sharing stories can lead to small, important shifts in how people think.
In 2022, Nisha released her documentary To Kill a Tiger. It premiered at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. It won the award for Best Canadian Feature Film there.
Awards and Achievements
Nisha's first feature film, Bollywood Bound, was nominated for a Gemini Award in 2002. In 2008, she won a Gemini Award for her documentary series Diamond Road.
Her film The World Before Her brought her international attention. It won many awards, including Best Documentary Feature at the Tribeca Film Festival. It also won Best Canadian Documentary at Hot Docs and was named one of TIFF's Canada's Top Ten films.
Nisha's latest film, To Kill a Tiger, has also won many awards. It won the Amplify Voices Award at TIFF. It has won 19 awards in total, including Best Documentary Feature at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. It also won three Canadian Screen Awards in 2023. In 2024, To Kill a Tiger was nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature.
Awards for The World Before Her
- "Best Canadian Feature Documentary" (2012) at the Edmonton Film Festival
- "Best Documentary" (2012) at Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival
- "Best Foreign Film" (2012) at Traverse City Film Festival
- "Best International Document" (2013) at Byron Bay International Film Festival
- "Special Jury Mention" (2012) at the San Diego Asian Film Festival
- "Best Documentary Feature" (2012) at the Tribeca Film Festival
- "VFCC" Award for Best Screenplay at the Vancouver Film Critics Circle (2012)
- "Best Documentary" (2012) at the Warsaw International Film Festival
This film was also nominated for awards at:
- Zurich Film Festival (2012) for "Best Documentary"
- Genie Awards (2012) for "Ted Rogers Best Feature Length Documentary"
- Canadian Screen Awards (2013) for "Best Feature Length Documentary"
- Santa Barbara Film Festival (2013) for "Social Justice Award for Documentary Film"
Films by Nisha Pahuja
- Bollywood Bound (2003)
- Diamond Road (2007)
- The World Before Her (2012)
- To Kill a Tiger (2022)
