A Life in Pictures: Mira Nair

30 March 10

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Mira Nair is a world-renowned film director, writer and producer with a career spanning over 20 years. Her unique style has been recognised with countless accolades including two BAFTA nominations for Salaam Bombay and Monsoon Wedding.

Growing up in the city of Bhubaneswar in North Western India, Nair found herself captivated by the bustling energy of life and was compelled from an early age to find a medium of expression for the world around her. Her earliest films took the form of revealing documentaries, most notably Saalam Bombay, a gritty unveiling of the day-to-day lives of children living on the streets of Mumbai. The film was awarded The Camera D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival launching her career after seven years of, as she puts it, “relative obscurity”.

Nair’s passion for gritty realism originated in her early documentaries yet in her impatience to reach out to a wider audience she moved away from the format to create films that would be more universally entertaining. Her biggest hits to date include Mississippi Masala, Monsoon Wedding, The Namesake and Amelia.

I wanted to control the look, the gesture, the story, the light...

In this event video, Nair narrates her fascinating life in pictures, from the origins of her film making ambitions right through to her experiences working with the likes of Hilary Swank, Reese Witherspoon, Richard Gere and Denzel Washington.

Talking to renowned film critic Jason Solomons, Nair talks about here unique style of filmmaking, revealing that she still approaches each work as a piece of social research, beginning the process in the mindset of a documentarian before creating an engaging screenplay.

The Indian-born filmmaker also discusses her ongoing charity work. After the making of Salaam Bombay 21 years ago, she was involved in setting up the Saalam Baalak Trust, an organisation aiding Mumbai Street Children. It is this, she reveals, that remians her greatest inspiration: “It really gives me a lot of energy to deal with the ups and downs of Hollywood”.

A Life in Pictures

The Academy's A Life in Pictures strand of events brings you the very best creative talents in the film industry. From esteemed actors and actresses to multiple award-winning directors and producers, A Life in Pictures explores the great talent advancing the artistic development of film.

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