3 South Asians Among 397 Artists and Executives Invited to Join Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
- Joining them is Indo-Canadian arts and design professional Geeta Basantani as well as several from the Indian film fraternity including Bollywood actress Kajol.
Indian American producer Aditya Sood, marketing professional Sohini Sengupta, and Pakistani American director Mohammed Ali Naqvi, are among 397 artists and executives invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Every year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences invites artists, technicians, and executives to join the Oscar organizer’s membership ranks. The prospective 2022 class includes 71 Oscar nominees and 15 winners, with 44 percent of the invitees being women, and 37 percent of the group belonging to underrepresented communities.
The Los Angeles-based Sood is the president of Lord Miller, Inc., the production company of Oscar-winning writer/directors Chris Miller and Phil Lord, based at Universal Pictures and Sony Television, according to his LinkedIn profile. He has produced popular films like “The Martian” and “Deadpool.” Some of his upcoming films include Universal comedies “Cocaine Bear” and “Strays,” as well as the independent film “Los Frikis.” He is also executive producing the animated Spider-Man movies: “Across The Spider-Verse (Parts One and Two).
Sengupta is the Creative Marketing Lead for Sci-Fi and Fantasy Genre at Amazon Studios. In her role, she works across teams “to create a holistic campaign with creativity at the heart,” her LinkedIn profile says. Before joining Amazon, she worked with Netflix and HBO.
She has been on numerous panels including for SXSW, Promax Asia, and Toronto Film Festival. Produced short films and feature-length including Chee and T (premiered at LAFF) and the Game of Thrones Documentary -The Last Watch. Most recently she has co-founded ReVisionMovement, an initiative to increase inclusion, diversity and equity within the entertainment marketing industry.
The New York-based Naqvi has directed “Insha’Allah Democracy,” and “Among the Believers.” His films explore themes of human rights, social justice, politics, and identity in contemporary Muslim and South Asian narratives.
Joining them is Indo-Canadian Geeta Basantani, the Look Development Compositing Supervisor at Animal Logic, an independent creative digital studio, producing award-winning design, visual effects and animation. She is located in Vancouver, British Columbia, and has worked with films like “The Shrinking of the Treehorn,” “Super Pets,” “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” “Hugo,” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” according to her LinkedIn profile.
Several Indians have made it to the list. Leading the list are Bollywood actress Kajol, and South Indian actor Suriya of “Jai Bhim” fame, along with celebrated filmmakers Pan Nalin and Reema Kagti; as well as the husband-wife duo of Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh, makers of Oscar-nominated documentary “Writing with Fire.”