Megha Ramaswamy

Megha Ramaswamy is a Mumbai-based screenwriter, director and producer. who has also been a beneficiary of the prestigious Chicken & Egg Fund in collaboration with IDF for the film and for her work with the support group Stop Acid Attacks. Her banner, Missfit Films, is dedicated to producing innovative films, which subscribe to being neither independent nor commercial. She co-hosts Cause Effect, a platform that produces cause related content & outreach programs. Her hybrid short documentary, Newborns, giving an inside look into the lives of acid-attack survivors, premiered at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), and was reviewed as the Best Film of Programme Four. Ramaswamy's second audio/visual project Bunny also premiered in North America at TIFF in 2015 & has since travelled to several acclaimed festivals post its release - including CORK, NIFF, IFFLA.

In 2016, Ramaswamy premiered her latest documentary short, The Last Music Store at the South Asian International Film Festival (SAIFF), where it won the Audience Award for Best Documentary. The 38-minute film documents the closure of Rhythm House, Mumbai’s oldest large format music and video store, that went out of business due to rise of piracy and highlights the lament of the store’s eccentric, dedicated, long-standing employees of the store and how they cope with this loss. Ramaswamy's connection with Rhythm House first started when she first discovered the store back in 2001. Ramaswamy met Aliya Curmally, producer of The Last Music Store and daughter of Rhythm House owner Amir Curmally, at a writing programme.The film does not delve into Rhythm House’s commercial history but instead asserts its role in enhancing Mumbai’s musical culture over the decades. In March 2016, short sneak peek of the film was released on Facebook and instantly went viral, and was covered by various news sites such as BuzzFeed, ScoopWhoop, Scroll.in and many more.

• 2011 - Shaitan – Writer
• 2012 - Ship of Theseus – Actress (Journalist)
• 2014 - Newborns (Documentory short) – Writer and director
• 2015 - Bunny (Short) – Writer and director
• 2016 - The Last Music Store - Writer and Director

• "'Beeba Boys,' 'He Named Me Malala' Among TIFF World Premieres". India West. September 15, 2015. Retrieved November 18, 2015. 

NEWBORNS:

Official Selection

• Toronto International Film Festival '14 Shorts Cuts Programme (World Premiere)
• Clermont Ferrand International Film Festival,
• International Human Rights Film Festival Of Paris
• London Asia Film Festival
• IndiEarth XCange2014, Chennai
• 4th UN Pasadena Film Festival, LA
• Vancouver International Film Festival
• Kurzfilmfestival München, Germany
• Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur, Switzerland
• FlickerFest, Australia
• Filmmor, Turkey
• Reno Tahoe International Film Festival, Germany
• Prague Short Film Festival
• Human Rights Arts and Film Festival, Australia
• Indian Film Festival of Melbourne, Australia
• Jaipur International Film Festival, India
• Cinequest Film Festival San Jose, USA
• Marfa Film Festival, Texas, USA
• CA Byron Bay International Film, Australia
• Festival Down East Flick Festival
• DOXA Documentary Film Festival, Canada
• Tenerife Shorts, Spain
• Idlywild International Festival of Cinema, USA
• Paris Lesbian & Feminist Film Festival, France

Awards

• Mumbai Women's International Film Festival - Best Short Documentary
• The cARTel Select Special Mention for Innovation Award
• Indian Film Festival of Stuttgart - Best Documentary Film
• London Asian Film Festival- Audience & Jury award for Best Short Film
• JIFF’15 Worldwood International Panorama - Best Documentary Film
• Delhi Shorts International Film Festival- Jury Prize for Best Short Documentary
• Moonfaze Feminist Film Festival, LA – Best Documentary Film

BUNNY:

• TIFF 15 (world premiere)
• Cork film festival, Ireland
• Tous Ecrans, Geneva
• Nordic international film festival
• Idyllwild international film festival, USA
• SouthSideFilmInstitute, USA
• Indian film festival Los Angeles, USA