Mira Nair

Director of Salaam Bombay! and The Namesake

An Evening with Mira Nair

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From her debut film, the Oscar-nominated Salaam Bombay!, to her recent triumph, The Namesake, Mira Nair is one of the most formidable directors working today. Raised in India, schooled at Harvard and now living in New York, she uses her natural grasp of identity conflict to create films -- "funny, rueful and sexy" films according to Entertainment Weekly -- that deal with the issues of race, class, gender, inter-generational strife, cultural appropriation and displacement. Of The Namesake, Nair says, "it encompasses in a deep, humane way the tale of millions of us who have left one home for another, who have known what it means to combine the old ways with the new world." A handy summation of her life and her award-winning work.

A skilled director, Mira Nair is equally adept talking to an audience; she began her career in front of the camera, not behind it. With sophistication, she discusses the craft of filmmaking as well as the issues she so passionately explores in her films: the tug of competing worlds felt by millions of immigrants, and ways to bridge the gap between cultures. She shares anecdotes from her films, including Monsoon Wedding, which Roger Ebert called "one of those joyous films that leaps over national boundaries and celebrates universal human nature." In the process, Nair shows you how film can challenge racial and gender stereotypes and generational assumptions. A thoughtful, generous talk by one of Hollywood's brightest.

With David Hockney and Mario Vargas Llosa, Mira Nair is a mentor at the Rolex Protege Arts Initiative, and her company, Mirabai films, recently established Maisha, in support of screenwriters and directors in East Africa and South Asia. Her first film, Salaam Bombay!, won 25 international awards, including two at Cannes, for best first feature and most popular entry. She is currently filming Amelia, starring Hilary Swank, about Amelia Earhart, and is in pre-production for the film Shantaram, to star Johnny Depp.

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