Shirley Abraham

Shirley Abraham is a Cannes prize-winning Indian documentary film maker. Her work is supported by the Sundance Institute, Pulitzer Center, New York Times, MacArthur Foundation, IDFA Bertha Fund, Bertha Foundation, BBC, Filmmaker Fund, Catapult Film Fund and Field of Vision. She has been a fellow of Sundance Labs, Cluster of Excellence Heidelberg, India Foundation for the Arts, and Goethe-Institut.

The Cinema Travellers is the debut feature of Shirley Abraham and Amit Madheshiya. It premiered as an Official Selection at Cannes Film Festival 2016, to a standing ovation. It has played 125 film festivals worldwide. It is the first Indian documentary to have achieved the rare festival trifecta of Cannes, Toronto, and New York Film Festival. The film has won 19 awards, including the President’s Medal in India.

Shirley and Amit have also made Searching for Saraswati, India’s first Op-Doc for the New York Times. Their recent film, The Hour of Lynching: Vigilante Violence in India, is supported by Field of Vision, the Pulitzer Center, and The Guardian.