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REAL TALKIES ORIGINALS

Delivers stories with authenticity, artistic integrity, emotional depth, and a pulse on the untold—where every project is a conversation starter.

CLIENT WORK

Real Talkies actively collaborates with filmmakers, production companies, brands, and nonprofits, lending expertise in directing, producing, editing, distribution, and impact strategy to help realize their creative visions.

About

ABOUT US

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Chithra Jeyaram [She/Her]

is a physical therapist turned filmmaker who identifies as Tamil. Her films reveal the extraordinary in the everyday, honoring the unique wisdom, resilience, and love that define both biological and chosen families. In her films—from initial idea to completion—she handles every phase of production: directing, producing, filming, and editing. She also regularly collaborates with other creators on coproductions or contributes her directing, producing, and editing expertise to their creative work. Chithra is an adjunct faculty member at NYU. She is an alumna of prestigious programs, including Visions du Réel’s RoughCut Lab, the Chicken & (Egg)celerator Lab, the BGDM Artist Fellowship, the Gotham Documentary Fellowship, and the Jerome Foundation grant. Her films have been showcased by platforms and festivals such as 2M, PBS, CBSN, Apple TV, BlackStar, SXSW, and DOC NYC. Food is her first love, and she is an avid runner who has completed 15 marathons. She calls Chennai and New York City home and is writing her first screenplay, THE LONGEST SUMMER.

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Founder and Creative Director

Work with us

Have a project in mind? Let's talk.

Collaborators

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Bhavana Goparaju [She/They]

Love Chaos Kin, Co-Producer

Bhavana is a data scientist and independent writer, producer whose work amplifies marginalized voices and celebrates courageous individuals who persevere despite adversity. After founding Jeevi Films, her production company, she produced IN THE BELLY OF A TIGER [2024], a tale of an elderly farmer who sacrifices himself to a tiger to rescue his family from poverty – a stark reality of capitalistic Neo-liberalism. As the co-producer of LOVE, CHAOS, KIN [2025], she aims to connect the largely untapped South Asian diaspora with indie cinema. Her films have streamed on Netflix, Hotstar, Mubi, and Neestream; screened at prestigious film festivals like Busan, Cartagena, IFFI Goa, Adelaide, and Jogja-NETPAC Asian; and participated in competitive programs like the Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum, NFDC Film Bazaar, and Tallinn’s WIP labs.

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Ahaanaa Malhotra [She, Her]

Amma's Pride, Impact Producer

Ahaanaa is a documentary filmmaker, impact producer, and a graduate of Columbia’s Journalism School.  She is passionate about using the power of film to inspire meaningful change through both urban and grassroots community engagement. She leads the Path to Pride campaign for Amma's Pride, a large-scale, grassroots impact campaign to build greater understanding and support for the LGBTQIA+ community across India. Her work is deeply rooted in social impact storytelling, with a focus on women’s rights, LGBTQIA+ narratives, family, and love, exploring questions of identity and belonging.

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Amma's Pride Director Still Shiva Krish

Shiva Krish [He/Him]

Amma's Pride, Director, Producer

Shiva embarked on his cinematic journey in 2014, initially serving as an assistant director in a Tamil narrative feature film "Oru Naal Iravil." Volunteering in the aftermath of the Chennai floods of 2015 brought him into contact with several local nonprofits, igniting his interest in documentaries. Following that, he collaborated with nonprofits to create the short documentaries 'PINK MONEY' on demonetization in India and 'INWARD' focusing on schizophrenia. He was the first assistant director in the acclaimed Amazon Prime documentary series  HARMONY WITH A. R. RAHMAN. AMMA's PRIDE  is his first independent documentary short, and he hopes to direct narrative films soon.

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Emilia Toledo [She, They]

Love Chaos Kin, Associate Producer

Emiis a graduate of Georgetown University’s undergraduate Justice and Peace Studies and Film and Media Studies programs. She is passionate about film as a tool for social impact and community building as well as the expansion of ethical approaches to documentary filmmaking practices. Even though documentary is her focus, she is also driven by experimentalism in film, especially that which incorporates dance and movement on screen. 

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Press

PRESS

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BBC News English, Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati, Punjabi, and several other language services feature Srija, Valli, Arun, and our documentary, Amma’s Pride. Srija is a gift," Valli tells the BBC as she and her daughter embrace. 

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The Philadelphia Inquirer lists Amma's Pride as one of the 11 films you should not miss at the BlackStar Film Festival. 

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DESI MOM documentary subject Lakshmi Iyer describes the circumstances that motivated her to become more civically engaged following the 2016 election.

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“Love is love, no matter what gender one is of,” says Shiva, adding that he set out to document Srija and Arun’s story based on this view. But as he got to know the couple and their family, he discovered the source of their strength: Srija’s mother.”

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She isn’t an activist fighting inner prejudice, nor a character grappling with societal expectations. She’s simply a mother, her heart beating instinctively for her child. Isn’t that, after all, the truest antidote to systemic hate—the simple, unshakeable love of a parent?

Awards, Labs, Fellowships

Awards
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Sher Vancover Award, 2024

Best LGBTQ Film, Amma's Pride

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Love Chaos Kin [Our Daughters]

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Love Chaos Kin [Our Daughters]

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Love Chaos Kin [Our Daughters]

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Desi Mom, Micro Doc Series

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Love Chaos Kin [Our Daughters]

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Love Chaos Kin [Our Daughters]

Events
Originals

ORIGINALS AT A GLANCE

Real Talkies’ current slate of thought-provoking films—stories that challenge, inspire, and stay with you long after the credits roll.

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The Longest Summer 

Screenplay [Work in Progress]

Writer: Chithra Jeyaram

When a headstrong young woman moves from India to Kuwait to help her father repay his crippling debt her increasing recklessness in the face of an unequal society forces her to choose between her family’s survival -- or her own dreams/love/life.

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Love Chaos Kin [2025, 97 min]

Director, Producer, Editor and DP: Chithra Jeyaram

An unexpected pregnancy compels an Indian immigrant mother to help her adopted twin daughters reconnect with their White birth mother and estranged Native American father, exposing raw class divides while transforming their understanding of identity and belonging.

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Amma's Pride [2024, 21 min]

Director: Shiva Krish

Producers: Chithra Jeyaram, D'Lo, Shiva Krish

Amma’s Pride is an award winning short documentary that chronicles Valli’s unwavering support for her trans daughter, Srija, as she navigates the trials and tribulations of falling in love, getting married, and fighting for state recognition of her marriage in a traditional small town in South India. When societal pressures push Srija’s marriage to the edge, Valli clings to the hope of a miracle.

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Foreign Puzzle [2019, 69 min]

Director, Producer, Editor and DP: Chithra Jeyaram

An intimate documentary about an inspiring Mexican American dancer who communicates the impermanence of life through dance while juggling the roles of a recently divorced parent of a 6-year-old, a choreographer, and a primary school teacher amidst intensive treatments for breast cancer.

Client Wok

CLIENT WORK

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Sex Work, It's Just a Job [2025, Coming Soon]

Director: Tami Gold

Editor: Chithra Jeyaram

Every day in cities across the country, hundreds of people are arrested for engaging in or offering consensual acts with adults. Their crime? Trading sex for the money. They are harassed, denied housing, incarcerated, and threatened by police officers. Today sex workers are building a growing movement demanding that consensual sexual acts between adults be decriminalized. This is their story.

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A 1001 Berber Nights [2024, Feature Documentary]

Director:  Hisham Aidi

DP and Editor: Chithra Jeyaram

Amma’s Pride is an award winning short documentary that chronicles Valli’s unwavering support for her trans daughter, Srija, as she navigates the trials and tribulations of falling in love, getting married, and fighting for state recognition of her marriage in a traditional small town in South India. When societal pressures push Srija’s marriage to the edge, Valli clings to the hope of a miracle.

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Look Like you [2022, Short fiction film, 12 min]

Director: Snigdha Kapoor

Editor: Chithra Jeyaram

Tara, a South Asian queer woman finally comfortable with her identity, nervously goes to see her eight- year- old biological son after years, but is unprepared for the tensions that resurface with his white adoptive parents.

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Symbolic Justice [2020, Documentary Series]

Producer: Leila Abu-Saada

Editor: Chithra Jeyaram

"With renewed calls for racial justice in America come fresh demands to take down Confederate monuments, rid sports teams of Native American mascots, and rebrand products that use racist caricatures. But some say the focus on imagery distracts from the fight for systemic change. This CBSN Originals documentary explores the impact of dismantling these symbols of the past – and the push for a more equitable future.

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9 Degrees [Short Documentary, 2019]

Director: Kalim Armstrong and Demetre Papageorgiou

Editor: Chithra Jeyaram [Digital series and Ep. 4]

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America in Transition [Documentary Series, 2018]

Director: Andre Perez

Editor: Chithra Jeyaram [Digital series and Ep. 4]

is a documentary series exploring relationships, community, and social issues for trans people of color.

Film Festivals, Screenings, Panels, Events

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May 31, 2025

Film Festival, East Coast Premiere

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Amma's Pride

Jan, 4, 2025

Jaffna, Sri Lanka

Community Screening

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October, 2024

New Orleans, LA

Film Festival

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May, 2024

NYC and London

Film Festival, Multiple

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May, 2024

NY African Film Festival

World Premiere

May 11, 2025

Film Festival, World Premiere

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November, 2024

Goa, India

Film Festival, India Premiere

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Aug, 2024

NYC

Panelist

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May, 2024

Micro Docs Series

World Premiere, CAAMfest

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Mar, 2020

Hosted by NWIFT, D-word

Mental Health Panelist

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Amma's Pride

March, 29, 2025

Chennai, India

Community Screening

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October, 2024

Woodstock, NY

Film Festival, Hudson Valley

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Aug, 2024

Philadelphia, PA

Film Festival, BlackStar

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May, 2024

Krakow, Poland

World Premiere

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Dec, 2019

Hosted by WMM

Editing Panelist

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