Indian American Filmmaker Nisha Ganatra Tops List of Directors Working in Advertising
- “The High Note” and “Late Night” director, previously won a Cannes Lions Grand Prix for Film Craft: Directing for her work on “#wombstories” for feminine hygiene brand Bodyform, known as Libresse outside the U.K.
Filmmaker Nisha Ganatra has topped the list of directors working in advertising, ranked by advertising industry festival Cannes Lions. She is a Golden Globe winner and an Emmy nominee for her work as a director/producer on “Transparent.” She previously won a Cannes Lions Grand Prix for Film Craft: Directing for her work on “#wombstories” for feminine hygiene brand Bodyform, known as Libresse outside the U.K.
Variety reported that “the rankings, which are based on performance at this year’s Cannes Lions Festival for the 2020/2021 period, were released on Sept. 17, as part of ‘The Lions Creativity Report.’ described as “the official global rankings and benchmark for creative excellence.”
“I still can’t quite believe this is true! I am honored to share the title of #1 global director with @lgreen66 whose work is so outstanding and to be on the list with @melinamatsoukas – 7 women on the top 10 list this year – a first but not the last,” Ganatra tweeted.
Ganatra’s most recent film was last year’s “The High Note” for Working Title and Focus Features, starring Tracee Ellis Ross, Ice Cube and June Diane Raphael. Her previous film, “Late Night,” starring Emma Thompson and Mindy Kaling, premiered at Sundance. It was sold to Amazon in a record-breaking deal and garnered the highest streaming numbers of the year.
Her debut feature, “Chutney Popcorn,” with Jill Hennessy and Sakina Jaffrey, won the audience award at the Berlin Film Festival. Since then, Ganatra “has been creating emotional, authentic and humorous stories by infusing her keen sense of comedy and storytelling with her personal life experience and point of view,” her website says. Her sophomore feature, “Cosmopolitan,” starring Carol Kane and Roshan Seth, premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival.
In addition to her work on “Transparent,” Ganatra directed Liz Sarnoff’s pilot “Highland,” and sold a drama project to ABC and a comedy pilot to NBC with Amy Poehler producing. She was the co-executive producer/director for “Better Things,” with Pamela Adlon, and the co-executive producer/director on “You Me Her.” She also created “Code Academy” for the ITVS/PBS series “Futurestates.” Ganatra has directed episodes of “Girls,” “Dear White People,” “Future Man,” “Mr. Robot,” “Shameless,” “Married,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” “Last Man on Earth,” “Love” and “Black Monday.”