DIRECTORS

Chithra Jeyaram [She/Her] is a physical therapist-turned-filmmaker who identifies as Tamil. Her work explores the wisdom, resilience, and love within both biological and chosen families. Having lived in India, Kuwait, and the USA, she brings a third-culture perspective, intimacy, and immersion to her films. She is an alumna of Visions du Réel's RoughCut Lab, the Chicken & (Egg)celerator Lab, the BGDM Artist Fellowship, the Gotham Documentary Fellowship, and a Jerome Foundation grantee. In the feature documentary LOVE CHAOS KIN [2025], she follows an Indian immigrant family with adopted White Navajo children for 12 years, navigating the complexities of open adoption with their children's White mother and Navajo father. She led the production of the acclaimed short AMMA'S PRIDE [2024], which championed parental support for trans people and marriage equality in India. Having spent over a decade observing family dynamics, she now turns the lens on her family. How do people build legacy, safety, and belonging from fractured histories? Her debut screenplay, LONGEST SUMMER, explores migrant workers navigating familial pressure, labor exploitation, and gender-based violence in Kuwait. Her hybrid documentary-in-development, PRACTICE OF US, uses South Indian shadow puppetry and Super 8 reenactments to confront painful memories and the gaze cast upon families outside majority gender and race norms.