Mira Nair

Winner of the Venice Film Festival’s Gold Lion for Monsoon Wedding, Mira Nair has achieved international renown as a director, writer and producer of feature films and documentaries. Born in India and educated at Delhi University and Harvard, she launched her career as an actress before directing award-winning documentaries. Salaam Bombay! – her debut work as a fiction film director – won the Caméra d’Or award at the Cannes Film Festival and an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film of 1988. Subsequent feature films include Mississippi Masala, The Perez Family, Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love, My Own Country, Monsoon Wedding, Hysterical Blindness, Vanity Fair and the upcoming The Namesake.  Her company, Mirabi Films, has established a laboratory to encourage young filmmakers from East Africa and India.

Source: University Programs and Events Planning Resources, December 2005