Tasveer Festival Jury
Arshad Khan:
Arshad Khan is a multiple-award-winning Canadian filmmaker who has a diversified slate of interests. He is a writer, director, production designer and film programmer with several long and short form films to his credit. Khan has been working on inclusive, intersectional cinema that represents unsung voices for two decades and is a pioneer for LGBTQIA rights amongst South Asians living in the West. After great success with his autobiographical documentary ABU, Khan is currently developing his first fiction feature with support from Telefilm Canada and SODEC.
Kamran Khan:
Kamran grew up in Peoria, IL, and Karachi, Pakistan. He’s taken this unique insight into both middle-American Americana and the insanity of 80s Karachi and funneled it into his writing and directing, Kamran most recently co-founded 1497, an organization to support and uplift talent of South Asian descent in the American film and television industry. Kamran is also a member of the NY State Bar where his passion for fictional storytelling is not as enthusiastically received.
Richa Rudola:
Richa Rudola is an NYC-based statistician-turned-filmmaker from India. Her films have screened at 45+ festivals around the world and won 10+ awards. Her work has been supported by The Future Of Film Is Female, Stowe Narrative Lab, Tasveer, and Diverse Intelligence Summer Institute.
Current projects include a TV series in development about neuroscience which won Best Hour Pilot at the 2020 Nashville Film Festival and a genre anthology piece for the 2021 Open Door Film Project. Richa is a strong proponent for increasing diversity in storytelling and serves as the Vice President of Development for NYC Women Filmmakers. She is drawn to stories of courage, even more as a new mother.
Stan Shields:
A member of the SIFF programming team since 2004, Stan has directed for the Screenwriter Salon program, and assisted with Exploding Cinema events prior to assuming the position of Festival Programming Manager in 2016, and Programming Manager in 2021. Previously he served as the Operations Manager for Intiman Theatre, curated and/or taught for Bumbershoot, Cornish College of the Arts, and On The Boards. He currently serves as Artistic Director for The 14/48 Projects (2008 recipient of Seattle Mayor’s Arts Award).
Subarna Thapa:
Nepalese filmmaker Subarna Thapa was born in Kathmandu and has lived in France for 20 years. A graduate in dramatic arts from the Cours Florent, Paris, he has played many roles in both France and Nepal, honing his craft at the Comédie Française, and also with the Japan Foundation in Tokyo and the Asia Society in New York. His first short film, Funeral – 2008, screened-in different int’l short film festivals and awarded was broadcast on France 3 in November 2009.
SOONGAVA-dance of the orchids is his first feature length and the first film in the 60 years of Nepal’s cinema history to tackle the theme of same-sex relationships.