CALENDAR
Access starts with
a conversation.
Fireside Conversations is an ongoing series — filmmakers, producers and programmers on what actually got their work made, funded and seen. Free, and live on Zoom.
Photo: Priya Vashist
NEXT SESSION
Making the Film Was the Easy Part: The 'Nukkad Naatak' Road to Release
Tanmaya Shekhar, Director · Medha Khanna & Molshri Singh, Producers
Taking a street-play premise from script to finished film — and what the long stretch between a premiere and an actual release demands of a team.
DATE
Sun, 13 December 2026
PACIFIC
7:00 – 9:00 AM PST
INDIA
8:30 – 10:30 PM IST
FORMAT
Webinar
Scheduled so far
More dates added as they're confirmed
FEB
13
2027 · Sat
Writing the Voiceless: From Page to Set to Cut
Tathagata Ghosh, Writer-Director
Building characters whose stories rarely reach the screen, and the craft choices that keep a voice honest from page to frame.
7:00 – 9:00 AM PST · 8:30 – 10:30 PM IST
APR
11
2027 · Sun
Self, Subject, and Subjectivity in Documentary Filmmaking
Sonali Gulati, Documentary Filmmaker
Everything nonfiction is assumed to require and doesn't — and what opens up once you drop the interview chair, the voiceover and the rest of the expected grammar.
8:00 – 10:00 AM PDT · 8:30 – 10:30 PM IST
JUN
13
2027 · Sun
The Filmmaker & Festival Director: Programming, Funding, and What Happens After the Premiere
Arshad Khan, Filmmaker & Festival Director
A frank session from both sides of the circuit: how programming decisions really get made, where funding comes from, and what happens to a film once the premiere is over.
8:00 – 10:00 AM PDT · 8:30 – 10:30 PM IST
AUG
08
2027 · Sun
The Writer's Chair: Script Competitions, Anthologies and Comedy as a Way In
Wahab Shayek, Screenwriter
The routes into a writing career that actually work — competitions, anthology commissions, and comedy as a door into rooms that are otherwise hard to enter.
8:00 – 10:00 AM PDT · 8:30 – 10:30 PM IST
OCT
→
2027 onward
The series continues.
We schedule in blocks, and the next run of dates goes up as each set of guests is confirmed. Put your name down and you'll hear first.
COVERSATION SO FAR
Parenting AI: From Reportage to Feature
Aranya Sahay, Director · Biju Toppo, Executive Producer · Sonal Madhushankar, Actor
Humans in the Loop premiered at MAMI and went on to win the Grand Jury Prize for Best Feature at IFFLA and Best Debut Film at NYIFF, with further honors at BIFFes and from FIPRESCI India.
It later reached audiences on Netflix and qualified for consideration at the 98th Academy Awards.
​
We talk with the team about how reportage became a feature, and what it means to tell a community’s story responsibly.
HOW THESE WORK
COST
Free
Every session in the series, no membership required.
LENGTH
2 hours
Roughly an hour of conversation, then the floor is yours.
WHERE
Zoom
The link reaches you by email once you've reserved a place.
CAN'T MAKE IT LIVE?
Register anyway
RSVP, and we'll send you the recording when it's ready.