A single email sparked an extraordinary chain of events—from conversation to meeting to asking, "Can I film your family for three days?" Those three days transformed into six years of filming and eighteen months of editing, revealing one of the most profound journeys I've ever witnessed. It is a privilege to premiere the feature documentary LOVE, CHAOS, KIN at CAAMFest, America’s largest showcase for new Asian American and Asian films, on Mother's Day. 

🏳️‍🌈 ​The inaugural Path to Pride screening at Chennai an evening of film, stories, and connection that centered trans and queer joy and acceptance surpassed all expectations. It was a powerful convergence of celebration, vulnerability, and unflinching truths about trans experiences.  We are grateful to Valli, Srija, and Arun, our team, our volunteers, our sponsors, and our attendees for making this happen. This is only the beginning. ✨

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🏳️‍🌈 ​ Srija is a gift," Valli tells the BBC as she and her daughter embrace. Thank you to Megha Mohan, BBC's first Gender and Identity Correspondent, and BBC News English, Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati, Punjabi, and several language services for featuring Srija, Valli, Arun, and our documentary, Amma’s Pride. There is a real need for stories of family acceptance for trans and queer folks to be seen, heard, and shared—again and again. This is a big milestone. Representation like this in mainstream media can shift perspectives. ✨

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🏳️‍🌈 ​Our producer D’Lo, along with the film’s participants Valli Amma, Srija, and Arun, trans activist Nirangal Siva, and our director Shiva Krish, shared the film and led community engagement efforts in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. This event was held in partnership with the Jaffna Transgender Network and made possible with the support of Nimmi Gowrinathan. The core message of our impact screenings - It is love that helps us fight and survive against the transphobia happening worldwide.  ✨

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🏳️‍🌈 Amma’s Pride will have its INDIA PREMIERE 🇮🇳 in the Indian Panorama at the 55th International Film Festival of India @iffigoa in Goa! ✨​ It’s an honor to bring Amma’s Pride home to Asia’s oldest festival, which began in 1952, and be part of a lineup that celebrates the diversity and richness of Indian cinema, in the Indian Panorama section.

https://tinyurl.com/59wvbp6k

🏳️‍🌈 SHER VANCOUVER AWARD FOR BEST LGBTQ+ FILM 🌟

The International South Asian Film Festival of Canada 2024 is proud to present this year’s Sher Vancouver Award for Best LGBTQ+ Film to AMMA’S PRIDE, directed by Shiva Krish. 🎬

Learn more: https://tinyurl.com/59wvbp6k

We’re thrilled to finally share the exciting news! Amma’s Pride will be showcased at the 25th edition of the prestigious Woodstock Film Festival this October. As an Oscar-qualifying festival, Woodstock is known for championing visionary cinema, and we’re honored to be a part of it. This year, Amma’s Pride is featured in the We’re Out Here shorts category, celebrating bold and transformative LGBTQIA+ stories

Learn more: https://tinyurl.com/wx5utmpw

In her interview with PS - Feel Good About It, DESI MOM documentary subject Lakshmi Iyer describes the circumstances that motivated her to become more civically engaged following the 2016 election. Watch the full A-Doc’s Our Stories, Our Voices Microdocs series at bit.ly/adoc-ourstoriesourvoices to see how people and communities have made their voices heard as we approach the 2024 elections.

Learn more: https://tinyurl.com/y4wxstt5

We’re thrilled to announce that Desi Mom will be showcased at the New Orleans Film Festival this October! Huge thanks and congratulations to the A-Doc Our Stories Our Voices series team and filmmakers. More updates soon

Learn more: https://tinyurl.com/mr3n379w

Join us for a screening of DESI MOM by Chithra Jeyaram followed by a panel "Documenting Good Trouble" where filmmakers, journalists, and narrative strategists help us imagine and remember that a new world is possible and discuss how we all have a role in building power and infrastructure for our multiracial movements.

Learn more: https://tinyurl.com/2xhzswxm

11 films you should not miss at the BlackStar Film Festival: “In the short documentary Amma’s Pride, director Shiva Krish shares the journey of Valli as she watches her trans daughter, Srija, fall in love and fight to marry in a traditional small town in south India. The film follows Tamil Nadu’s first registered marriage between a transwoman and a cisgendered man, zooming in on Srija’s biggest supporter, Valli. — HQ

We’re thrilled to announce that Amma’s Pride will be showcased at the BlackStar Film Festival this August! This year’s films engage with self-discovery, climate justice, immigrant rights, decolonization, and queer liberation. It’s an incredible honor to be part of this prestigious festival in the US.

Learn more: https://tinyurl.com/4unupe5j

You can watch A Thousand and One Berber Nights on May 24th in Dubai at Cinema Akil and on May 26rh in New York City at Harlem International Film Festival, Maysles Documentary Center

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NYC screening tickets: https://shorturl.at/c2T6O

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Dubai Screening tickets: https://shorturl.at/laSCm

Akila Kannadasan spotlights our film, AMMA's PRIDE, and its world premiere at the Krakow Film Festival in The Hindu, an Indian English-language daily newspaper. "This is not your average love story. Of course, it starts with two people falling in love.  But what makes it extraordinary is the love of Srija's mother, Valli."

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Learn more: https://shorturl.at/ywYqz

2024 Asian American Documentary Network Microdocs series - Our Stories, Our Voices, centers around how individuals and communities advocate to have their voices heard in the 2024 elections. I made a bite-sized documentary, "Desi Mom" (2 mins) that's both funny and impactful. It features the one and only Lakshmi Iyer. 

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Learn more: https://shorturl.at/FJT01

Apolitical mom finds her voice: Lakshmi urges South Asians to shape their children’s and local future.

Desi Mom is part of 2024 Asian American Documentary Network Microdocs series - Our Stories, Our Voices, centers around how individuals and communities advocate to have their voices heard in the 2024 elections.

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Learn more: https://shorturl.at/ouwH7

AMMA's PRIDE chronicles Valli's trials and tribulations as she watches her trans daughter Srija, fall in love, marry, and fight 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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Link: https://www.krakowfilmfestival.pl/en/film/4349-ammas-pride/?64

"A Thousand and One Berber Nights" a feature documentary that was filmed and edited by Chithra Jeyaram will premiere at the 31st NY African Film Festival on May 17 at Maysles Cinema.

Hearty Congratulations to the film team.

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54 minutes | United States | 2023

Link: https://shorturl.at/oHNS3

Our Daughters team is very grateful and excited to be a part of the 2023 Visions Du Reel Rough Cut Lab. VdR–Industry is a competitive and prestigious forum dedicated to helping filmmakers realize their creative projects. 

Link: https://bit.ly/3Gqt7r8

Chithra Jeyaram was announced as a grantee of our prestigious 2022 (Egg) celerator Lab. Chithra will receive a $40,000 grant, to be put towards the production of her film Our Daughters, and a year-long mentorship program designed to take her to the next stage of her career.

Link: https://bit.ly/394y3UU

Chithra Jeyaram received the 2022 NYC WOMEN"S FUND for Media, Music, and Theatre for the project Our Daughters engagement and dedication to community building, and strong potential to make a meaningful contribution to an evolving and expanding documentary field.

Link: https://on.nyc.gov/3Kd489W

Chithra Jeyaram is a 2021 BGDM Sustainable Artist Grantee. These unrestricted grants support BGDM members whose filmmaking talents dovetail with their clarity of purpose as an artist, engagement and dedication to community building, and strong potential to make a meaningful contribution to an evolving and expanding documentary field.

Link: https://bit.ly/2PE6DvR

Thrilled that our feature documentary Foreign Puzzle won the “Best Documentary Feature” award at the Fayetteville Film Fest. A big thank you to the festival for a great virtual screening and this beautiful recognition.

Link: https://bit.ly/3dMHIPS

Thrilled that our feature documentary Our Daughters is part of the DOC NYC film festival's "Only In New York" work-in-progress lineup. DOC NYC Is America's largest documentary film festival.

Link: https://bit.ly/3d1UGam

Chithra Jeyaram edited the CBSN Originals documentary, "Speaking Frankly | Symbolic Justice with producer Leila Abu-saada and the CBSN Originals team.

Watch: https://bit.ly/3lgHrpf

In a year like no other, we feel lucky that Our Daughters will participate in IFP week's "Spotlight on Documentaries" alongside fabulous projects with creators we admire and respect.
Congratulations everyone.

Link: https://bit.ly/3iY66yf

Chithra Jeyaram became a member of Film Fatales, a nonprofit which advocates for parity in the film industry and supports an inclusive community of hundreds of women and non-binary feature film and television directors nationwide. 

Link: https://bit.ly/3eqyIhi

Our Daughters is one of the 10 projects selected for their creative vision and outstanding promise. The lab is an year-long intensive and will provide invaluable access to the industry and thought leaders and help us make the best film we can.

Link: https://bit.ly/3107muA

Our feature-length documentary, Our Daughters is one of the 48 projects, chosen from over 500 applications, to pitch to international industry representatives at the 15th edition of the MeetMarket. 

Link: https://bit.ly/2RKGut4

NYWIFT and The D-Word hosted a panel discussion moderated by Doug Block (The D-Word), panelists include Rebecca Day (Producer/ Psychotherapist), Kelsey Koenig  (Impact Partner Films), Heidi Reinberg (Documentary filmmaker) and Chithra Jeyaram (Documentary filmmaker).

Link:   https://bit.ly/3dlP6OO

Received the New York State Council on the Arts Individual Artist Grant for the feature documentary Our Daughters. 

Chithra Jeyaram was a panelist for a workshop on 'How to create a perfect work sample? The event was co-presented by Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship, Women Make Movies and NYU Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute with  Robin Hessman, Leigh Johnson and Rabab Haj Yahya. 

Received the prestigious Jerome Media Grant for the feature documentary Our Daughters. 

Link:  https://bit.ly/30ZfECZ 

Received the Center for Asian American Media Grant for the feature documentary Our Daughters.

Link: https://bit.ly/3fL0DsI 

Received the Made in NY Fellowship for the transmedia project 1001 Breast Cancer Nights. Link: https://on.nyc.gov/2YXpSky