Sharat Raju

Sharat Raju is an Indian-American director and writer, known for creating documentaries and films pertaining to the lives of immigrants in American society.

Raju co-founded the Yale Visual Law Project and co-produced three documentary short films as a Visiting Fellow at Yale Law School’s Information Society Project. Raju’s first film, American Made, won 17 film festival awards and aired nationally on PBS’s “Independent Lens. American Made was Raju's Masters thesis while studying at the American film Institute.

In September 2004, Raju was named by Esquire Magazine as one of the 20 young film directors to watch. Prior to graduate school he worked for acclaimed casting director Mali Finn on feature films including 8 Mile, Matrix Revolutions, and Matrix Reloaded.

Raju has collaborated on many of his works with his wife, Valarie Kaur; Divided We Fall (2008) was Raju's first film created in partnership with his wife. The couple has made other documentary films including: Stigma (2011), which highlights the impact of New York City police’s “Stop and Frisk” policy; Alienation (2011), about immigration raids; The Worst of the Worst: Portrait of a Supermax (2012), a documentary on the use of solitary confinement in prison; and Oak Creek: In Memorium (2012), a short film about the 2012 mass shooting at a Sikh gurdwara in Wisconsin.

Raju lives with his wife Valarie Kaur in Los Angeles, CA.