Peabody Winner - 2023 Peabody Awards | Nominee for Best Documentary Feature - Academy Awards® | Screened in over 200 festivals and won 40 awards
Democracy in India • Women's Rights • Women in Journalism • Human RightsDate of Completion: 2021 | Run Time: 93 minutes | Language: Hindi with English subtitles | Captions: No | Directors: Rintu Thomas & Sushmit Ghosh | Producers: Rintu Thomas & Sushmit Ghosh | Executive Producers: Patty Quillin & Hallee Adelman | Co-Executive Producer: Anurima Bhargava
In a cluttered news landscape dominated by men, emerges India’s only newspaper run by Dalit and marginalised women. A double Sundance winner, WRITING WITH FIRE got an Academy Award nomination for Best Feature Documentary, making it the first Indian feature documentary to be nominated for an Oscar. Armed with smartphones, Chief Reporter Meera and her journalists break traditions, be it on the frontlines of India's biggest issues or within the confines of their homes, redefining what it means to be powerful. Please note: There is conversation around sexual violence and rape in the film.
Director & Producer of WRITING WITH FIRE
Sushmit Ghosh is an Academy Award nominated filmmaker and co-founder of Black Ticket Films, a production company invested in the power of storytelling. An IDA Courage Under Fire Honoree, Sushmit's films are recognised for their rigour of immersive, emotionally powerful storytelling. His feature documentary, WRITING WITH FIRE (2021) is India's first feature documentary to be nominated for an Oscar. WRITING WITH FIRE has played at over 200 festivals, won 40 awards and earned Grierson, IDA, PGA, Cinema Eye Honors nominations. Sushmit's work has been supported by the Sundance Institute, Tribeca, Chicken & Egg Pictures and Doc Society. Sushmit is also a mentor for labs and fellowships that focus on storytellers from underrepresented communities who are providing new narratives about the most pressing issues of our time. In his spare time, you’ll find him motorcycling and hiking through the Himalayas.
Director & Producer of WRITING WITH FIRE
Rintu Thomas is an Academy Award nominated filmmaker whose body of work sits at the intersection of storytelling as both an art and a conversation. A 2021 IDA Courage Under Fire Award honoree, Rintu is an IDA Logan Elevate grantee and a Sundance Fellow. Her feature documentary, Writing With Fire (2021), described by The Washington Post as “The most inspiring journalism movie – maybe ever” is a double Sundance winner, a New York Times Critics’ Pick and a Grierson, IDA and a PGA Awards nominee. Along with winning 40 awards, the film is India’s first documentary to be nominated for an Academy Award. In 2009, Rintu co-founded Black Ticket Films, a production company invested in the power of storytelling. With a strong eye on social justice stories, Black Ticket Films’ critically acclaimed slate of films is being used as advocacy, impact and education tools by institutions across the world. Rintu’s award winning shorts include Dilli (2010) and Timbaktu (2012). She is a recipient of the President’s Medal of India, a Skoll Stories of Change Fellow and also a South Asia Fellow with the Japan Foundation. She lives between New Delhi and a quaint mountain-town in North India.
Washington Post | Jason Rezaian
"The most inspiring journalism movie — maybe ever."
New York Times | Devika Girish
"Rousing...nothing short of galvanizing."
Hollywood Reporter | Inkoo Kang
"Insightful and inspirational…the film’s sense of intimacy and immediacy makes the viewer feel like they’re on a ride-along with the journalists...the filmmakers illuminate the change that can happen when the most marginalized members of a society empower themselves..."
Indiewire | Kate Erbland
"Armed with eagle-eyed filmmakers and compelling subjects, the film deftly blends the (inextricably linked) personal and professional sides of the journalists’ work, offering up a wide-ranging look at a vital outlet with so many stories to tell…the result is profound"
LA Times | Robert Abele
"A vital, stimulating dispatch from the frontlines of consequential citizen journalism"
Screen International | Amber Wilkinson
"As this engaging and hopeful documentary by Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh shows, words have the power to change things when wielded carefully…‘I believe journalism is the essence of democracy,’ says Meera. Watching this will make you believe it too."
Film Companion | Rahul Desai
"This documentary is a profoundly powerful reminder of people in the time of politics. Of speaking in an era of silence. And of writing – stories, videos, segments, history itself – in the age of hellfire."
AWARDS
Peabody Winner (Documentary category) | 83rd annual Peabody Awards
Nominee, Best Documentary Feature | Academy Awards®
Nominee, Best Feature | IDA Documentary Awards
Nominee, Outstanding Producer of Documentary Motion Pictures | Producers Guild of America Awards®
Audience Award: World Cinema Documentary | Sundance Film Festival
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award: Impact for Change | Sundance Film Festival
The film has screened in over 200 festivals and won 40 awards
Director & Producer of WRITING WITH FIRE
Sushmit Ghosh is an Academy Award nominated filmmaker and co-founder of Black Ticket Films, a production company invested in the power of storytelling. An IDA Courage Under Fire Honoree, Sushmit's films are recognised for their rigour of immersive, emotionally powerful storytelling. His feature documentary, WRITING WITH FIRE (2021) is India's first feature documentary to be nominated for an Oscar. WRITING WITH FIRE has played at over 200 festivals, won 40 awards and earned Grierson, IDA, PGA, Cinema Eye Honors nominations. Sushmit's work has been supported by the Sundance Institute, Tribeca, Chicken & Egg Pictures and Doc Society. Sushmit is also a mentor for labs and fellowships that focus on storytellers from underrepresented communities who are providing new narratives about the most pressing issues of our time. In his spare time, you’ll find him motorcycling and hiking through the Himalayas.Expertise
I've spoken on a range of themes as a filmmaker - from specific aspects of storytelling for film students across the world to larger themes of field-building for the global South at international conferences and events (Ex: IDFA, CPH:DOX, NZ Film Commission etc). My experiences as an independent filmmaker from India and rich expertise of working in the global documentary eco-system gives me a very specific insight into how the industry runs and my lens on it is different from what most folks in the West see. Also, as someone who has been a public speaker for nearly a decade, I'm very comfortable speaking to a diverse range of audiences and am passionate about storytelling and the power for change that cinema holds in our lives.
Speaking History
- IDFA Film Festival
(https://www.idfa.nl/en/article/167564/pros-and-cons-of-international-co-producing-for-filmmakers-from-the-global-south)
- Colombia Journalism School Masterclass (virtual)
- New Zealand Film Commission Conference
- CPH:DOX Conference
- Standford University (virtual)
- Yale University (virtual)
Director & Producer of WRITING WITH FIRE
Rintu Thomas is an Academy Award nominated filmmaker whose body of work sits at the intersection of storytelling as both an art and a conversation. A 2021 IDA Courage Under Fire Award honoree, Rintu is an IDA Logan Elevate grantee and a Sundance Fellow. Her feature documentary, Writing With Fire (2021), described by The Washington Post as “The most inspiring journalism movie – maybe ever” is a double Sundance winner, a New York Times Critics’ Pick and a Grierson, IDA and a PGA Awards nominee. Along with winning 40 awards, the film is India’s first documentary to be nominated for an Academy Award. In 2009, Rintu co-founded Black Ticket Films, a production company invested in the power of storytelling. With a strong eye on social justice stories, Black Ticket Films’ critically acclaimed slate of films is being used as advocacy, impact and education tools by institutions across the world. Rintu’s award winning shorts include Dilli (2010) and Timbaktu (2012). She is a recipient of the President’s Medal of India, a Skoll Stories of Change Fellow and also a South Asia Fellow with the Japan Foundation. She lives between New Delhi and a quaint mountain-town in North India.Expertise
As an Academy nominated Director-Producer from the global South, I bring to the table the experience of being a BIPOC-woman field-builder whose experiences may be different from filmmakers in the West. Also, having straddled both the independent documentary world and now working on projects that are much more scaled up in the streaming space, I can bring a certain nuance that looks at how storytelling also is evolving in the world we are in today.
Speaking History
- Skoll World Forum (England)
- IDFA Film Festival (Netherlands)
- New Zealand Film Commission Conference Masterclass (New Zealand)
- Spoken at multiple events organised by the Japan Foundation (Japan and South-East Asia)