Born in Canada, Thakur's award-winning films cross easily between documentary,
experimental and fiction. Thakur just completed SKY PEOPLE (Sept 2008, 13 min.),
a lyrical satire on class in New York City. Scientists discover that the farther you
are from earth, the slower time passes and therefore, the longer you’ll live.
A lyrical satire on class in New York City, the film follows 21 different characters’
race to be a “sky-person” —the elite one percent who live above the 13th floor.

 

She started working as a documentary film director in Montreal at the National
Film Board of Canada (NFB) in 1992. These documentaries focus on social issues
such as aboriginal justice in the Yukon (CIRCLES, 58 min.,1997); interracial
families through the children's eyes (DOMINO, 45 min., 1994); and cross-cultural
tensions in a mixed neighborhood after a black-on-white murder (CROSSING
BORDERS, 25 min.,1992). These documentaries were broadcast in 22 countries.

 

She left the NFB for graduate school to expand her filmmaking into experimental and
narrative forms, creating TWO FORMS (4 min.,1998) and SEVEN HOURS TO BURN
(9 min.,1999), a personal memoir of the two different wars of racial/religious purity
experienced by her Danish and Indian parents. Her experimental-documentary,
SEVEN HOURS TO BURN screened in over 50 film festivals, won 10 awards and was
broadcast on the Sundance Channel. SEVEN HOURS TO BURN was showcased by
Kodak at the Cannes Film Festival and screened at the Robert Flaherty Film Seminar
as well as the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

 

KAIROS (18 min., 2002) a fiction film, was made possible by grants from the Pew
Fellowship in the Arts and Pennsylvania Council of the Arts Fellowship. "Kairos" is
Greek for the transformative moment. The film takes place between 4:07 and 4:08 p.m.,
which is expanded into 17 minutes in a woman's mind: she must choose between two
different lovers, two kinds of happiness. Screenings include: the Montreal World Film
Festival, Hamptons International Film Festival, New Haven Film Festival, where the film
won Best Short-Audience Award, and the Rhode Island International Film Festival,
where the film was awarded 1st Prize, Best Editing.

 

Additional awards and screenings include: Best Documentary Short Film, Cleveland
International Film Festival; Gold Award–Documentary, NY Expo of Short Film; Silver
Apple,NEMN; Best Documentary, Philadelphia City Paper Independent Film Contest;
Director's Choice Award, Black Maria Film Festival; Bronze Plaque, Columbus
International Film Festival. Other festivals include: Edinburgh, BBC British Short Film
Festival, Doubletake Documentary Film Festival, Aspen Shortsfest and Tampere
International Short Film Festival.

 

Thakur has served as a jurist for the New York Foundation of the Arts (NYFA) and the
International Emmy Awards. She has also worked as a consultant for Ogilvy and Mather.

 

Thakur received her MFA in Film and Media Studies from Temple University, a BA in
Communications from Concordia University and a BA in Psychology from Ottawa
University. She is currently Assistant Professor in Film Production at Hunter College–
City University of New York. Prior to Hunter, she taught at Hofstra University, as well as
graduate and undergraduate students at Temple University. She has given artist
presentations at Harvard University, MIT, Barnard College and Bryn Mawr, amongst others.

 

She lives in Brooklyn, New York.