Arati Kadav | Director/Writer

Arati Kadav | Director/Writer

Arati Kadav is an award-winning writer, director and producer working in Mumbai. Arati grew up in Nagpur and trained as a computer science engineer, working as a software developer in the US before deciding to switch professions and enrolling in a Film Direction course at Whistling Woods International in Mumbai.

Since graduating, she’s worked in advertising and music promos and made six short films, one of which, the 40-minute featurette Time Machine (2017), is currently available on Mubi and Amazon. Her debut feature, Cargo (2019), is a science fiction drama exploring themes of life, death and reincarnation. It played at 27 film festivals around the world, including SXSW, the Miami International Science Fiction Film Festival – where it won Best Sci-Fi Feature and the Audience Award – and the Shanghai Film Festival, where Arati was nominated for the Asian New Talent Award. In February 2022, Arati was nominated for a debut award from India’s Screenwriters Association for the film, which has since been acquired by Netflix and is currently available to view on the platform. In addition to her work behind the camera, Arati created the ShortFilmWindow website, a curated portal that spotlights short films from across the globe.

She is currently developing a science fiction series set in Mumbai and is also in pre-production of a film set to start shooting in May 2022.