Lipika Singh Darai | Director/Editor

Lipika Singh Darai | Director/Editor

Lipika Singh Darai is a director, writer, and editor based in Odisha. Trained in sound recording and design from the Film and Television Institute of India, Lipika left the Mumbai film industry around 2013 to make her own films in her home state where she belongs to the Ho indigenous community. Despite Odisha having a limited scope in independent filmmaking at that time, Lipika has thrived with her films earning multiple National Film Awards and festival participation worldwide.

Her credits as director include socio-cultural feature documentaries Some Stories Around Witches (2016) and Backstage (2021), educational short The Waterfall (2017), and as editor The Sound Man Mangesh Desai (2017). Her recent documentary Night and Fear (2023) premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in its Ammodo Tiger Short competition. Lipika is developing her debut fiction feature Birdwoman which has received the Hubert Bals Development Fund 2023.

In their own words...

"There were no women filmmakers working in Odisha and hardly any women film professionals. There was a huge scarcity of local funds and original ideas. I never thought I could sustain my filmmaking journey, but it’s been 10 years and I have been able to pull it off. At this juncture, BAFTA breakthrough is a new distinguished chapter for me. While looking for collaborative opportunities for myself, I also aim to support other filmmakers, especially women from my state."

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