2022 Awards Jury
Rupak Ginn
Actor & writer Rupak Ginn holds a degree in English literature from Harvard University and an MBA from Columbia University. Best known for his seven seasons on USA Network's "Royal Pains," Rupak has also starred off-Broadway and in numerous tv shows and films. The winner of an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation screenwriting award, Rupak is the author of an upcoming spy thriller series of novels set in India.
Dylan Mohan Gray
Dylan Mohan Gray is a Mumbai-based writer and filmmaker. His projects include the documentary feature "Fire in the Blood", which premiered at Sundance and went on to have the longest theatrical run of any non-fiction film in Indian cinema history. Selected at over 100 international film festivals, winner of numerous awards and the first documentary from India to be released theatrically in both the US and UK, "Fire in the Blood" helped change the global conversation around access to lifesaving medicine. In 2019, it was named one of "26 landmark documentary films of the past seven decades" in The Power of the Documentary, a major retrospective curated by legendary documentarian John Pilger.
Most recently Dylan directed Netflix's first Indian-themed non-fiction original, "The King of Good Times", opening film of the documentary anthology series Bad Boy Billionaires. It enjoyed a multiple-week run as the #1 most-watched title across all genres on Netflix India and was the most-watched documentary of the year 2020 in India.
Dylan's mid-length film on global health advocacy, "From Durban to Tomorrow", is currently screening at festivals worldwide and has to date won over two dozen international awards.
Originally trained as a historian, Dylan has a special interest in stories with linkages to contemporary history and is currently working on a number of projects in this vein.
Mindy Raymond
Mindy has been involved in every aspect of the filmmaking process. Her acting career, which was her first passion, took her to New York City to study at the prestigious Michael Howard Studios. She lived and worked in both NYC and LA pursuing her career in acting and producing. Later, she worked with the Seattle Film Festival, spearheading their Platinum Pass Concierge Experience. Being a graduate of the University of Texas, Mindy was anxious to get back to Austin. She was the first Executive Director of the Texas Motion Picture Alliance, the organization advocating and lobbying for a stronger rebate incentive program in the state of Texas. She has lead the charge to inform and educate Texas' State Representatives and Senators about the massive impact media production has on our state.
Now, President for New Republic Studios (NRS), a leading multi-media production facility in Central Texas, Mindy's talents and her ability to connect people has led to the massive success of NRS, making it the most sought after production hub in Texas.
Arshad Khan
Arshad Khan is an award-winning, Canada-based filmmaker of Pakistani origin. He is a filmmaker, film festival director and film educator. He is interested in presenting diverse stories of marginalized peoples and tries to help amplify those voices. Khan's films deal with issues of class, race, sexuality and social justice.
Cynthia Kane
Cynthia Kane co-created Sundance Channel's DOCday bringing Jean-Xavier de Lestrade and Denis Poncet's The Staircase (2006 Peabody, Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia Awards) to US television. At ITVS, she shepherded over 150 international and U.S. co-productions for public media. At Al Jazeera America, she commissioned documentaries and series including Albert Maysles' final work, In Transit. As Exec-Producer: New Eyes by Hiwot Admasu Getaneh (Venice, TIFF, Rotterdam), Creative Consultant: Zeva Oelbaum and Sabine Krayenbühl's Letters from Baghdad about the extraordinary life and times of Gertrude Bell, Co-Producer: Kim A Snyder and Maria Cuomo Cole's Lessons From a School Shooting: Notes from Dunblane.
Recent films include The Ants and the Grasshopper (2021), The River Between Us (2021), Life & Life (2021), The Dilemma of Desire (2020), Us Kids (2020) and The Letter (2019).
She currently freelances with Barbara Kopple/Cabin Creek Films and is a consultant with Women Make Movies.
Anjul Nigam
Anjul Nigam is currently producing the Western "Rust" with Alec Baldwin who also stars in the title role. He recently served as an executive producer and a supporting actor in the feature film "Supercell" starring Alec Baldwin, Skeet Ulrich and Anne Heche. He also was a producer on "Murder At Emigrant Gulch" starring Gabriel Byrne, Thomas Jane and Richard Dreyfuss. He recently released Joel Souza's "Crown Vic," serving as its lead producer with Alec Baldwin and starring Thomas Jane, Luke Kleintank, Bridget Moynahan and David Krumholtz. The movie had its World Premiere at Tribeca Film Festival garnering the biggest sale from over 100 feature films, and Screen Media subsequently released it theatrically and is currently available OnDemand on all major platforms. Previously, Nigam served as the lead producer on the feature film "Bayou Caviar," Oscar Winner Cuba Gooding Jr.'s directorial debut in which Gooding also stars opposite Oscar Winner Richard Dreyfuss, Famke Janssen, and Katharine McPhee; the movie was released theatrically in 2018. Prior to that Nigam was the lead producer, writer, and a lead actor alongside Jason Lee in the movie "Growing Up Smith" which had a theatrical release in forty cities in the United States and Canada in 2017, receiving TIME Magazine's "Pick of the Week" designation.
A graduate of New York University Tisch School of Arts / Drama Department, Nigam is a founding partner at Brittany House Pictures. As a veteran actor, he has starred in or had significant roles in a dozen motion pictures and numerous landmark TV series. In addition to appearing in the recent theatrical film "Trafficked" with Ashley Judd, he was a supporting lead in Focus Features' "Bad Words" for director/star Jason Bateman; a lead alongside Rosario Dawson in 20th Century Fox's "The First $20 Million Is Always the Hardest"; and a supporting lead in Universal's "Speaking of Sex" with Bill Murray. Nigam is known for Netflix's show "Never Have I Ever" created by Mindy Kaling, and recurs as Psych Dr. Raj on ABC's "Grey's Anatomy." He recurred on HBO's "True Detective" opposite Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams and Taylor Kitsch. In theater, Nigam starred alongside former NYU classmate and friend, Philip Seymour Hoffman in "The Merchant of Venice" directed by Peter Sellars at the RSC (London) and Goodman Theatre (Chicago).
Mahesh Pailoor
Mahesh Pailoor is an award-winning filmmaker based in Los Angeles. He directed and co-wrote the independent feature film, BRAHMIN BULLS, starring Sendhil Ramamurthy, Roshan Seth, Academy Award® Winner Mary Steenburgen, and Academy Award® Nominee Michael Lerner. The film screened at festivals worldwide and was released theatrically in the US and UK. The New York Times deemed it "a warm debut" and the Village Voice called it an "accomplished first feature." Pailoor's other work has won awards and been showcased at SXSW, Cannes Lions, the Sundance Channel and the Smithsonian. Pailoor is an alumnus of the ABC/DGA Directing Program, Berlin Talent Campus, Project Involve and the Film Independent Screenwriting Lab. He is also a director for the annual ABC Discovers Talent Showcase. Pailoor grew up in Maine, is a graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and earned an MFA in directing from the American Film Institute, where he was awarded the Franklin J. Schaffner Fellow Award.
Katy Drake Bettner
Katy Drake Bettner will produce damn near anything but is most excited about enabling talented creatives to scope, advance, refine, and execute their unique vision. She is an art form agnostic and has produced and/or managed projects in the game industry, music industry, non-profits/start-ups, and film, both narrative and documentary. Katy serves on the board of Austin Film Society, is a member of the Women at Sundance Leadership Council, has served as an advisor for the Sundance Creative Producing Lab and Summit and has advised for the Women in Film/Sundance financing strategy summit as well as the Documentary Producers Alliance.
Katy is currently in post on Beck Kitsis & Chris McNabbs's VALENTINE, in production on Lije Sarki's DOUG OUT, in active development alongside Sundance Creative Producing Fellow Katie White on Lindsay Calleran's CAITY (The Gotham Project Market, Outfest Screenwriting Lab) as well as in script development on the SFFilm Rainin grantees, Warner Medias 150 Funded, AFS North Texas Star award winning UNTITLED TEXAS LATINA PROJECT.
Viveck Vaswani
Viveck Vaswani is an actor, writer and producer. He started off his career by playing a minor role in the 1991 film Patthar Ke Phool, and then he focused on producing and writing films. He has acted in more than 100 films.
When Shah Rukh Khan came to Mumbai as a hopeful actor, he had no place to stay. He lived with fellow actor Vaswani, who later appeared in Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman and Josh with him, and helped Shah Rukh Khan (SRK) meet directors and producers. Vaswani has been credited with jump starting SRK’s career by launching him in Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman. They also acted together in English Babu Desi Mem, Dulha Mil Gaya, Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, King Uncle. Vaswani has been a continuous mentor to him.
Vaswani also produced Everybody Say's I'm Fine in the English language, giving a break to director, Rahul Bose, and actors Koel Purie, Rehaan Engineer, Anahita Uberoi, Boman Irani, and has the distinction of getting Carlos Santana to play lead guitar on the title track of the film, composed by Zakir Hussain.
Ghalib Shiraz Dhalla
Dhalla is a Lambda Literary Award-nominated author, syndicated journalist, and filmmaker who was was acknowledged by President Obama for his groundbreaking literary contribution to the LGBTQ community. His debut novel, "Ode to Lata", hailed by the L.A. Times as "an achievement", was made into the major motion picture, "The Ode" (2008) which he adapted and co-produced. He is the winner of the IFCCA Audience Choice Best Director Award for his short, "Embrace" — the first motion picture dramatization of the Mumbai Terror Attacks, and praised by the Huffington Post as a "film that delivers a message of the defeat of evil and triumph over adversity." His most recent project, the Netflix-produced movie, "The Killer" was nominated for 11 awards and winner of 2 at Brazil's "Festival de Gramado." Dhalla's work has been celebrated at the Yale Masters Tea, the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and the L.A. Times Festival of Books. As a journalist, his work has appeared globally in Conde Nast Traveler, Angeleno Magazine and Elle.