Shashwati Talukdar is an independent filmmaker whose recent films include ’Please Don’t Beat Me, Sir!‘ (2011) and ‘Wall Stories’ (2013). Her work ranges from documentary, narrative and experimental and has shown at venues including the Busan International Film Festival, Margaret Mead Film Festival, Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia and the Whitney Biennial. Shashwati worked as an editor in the film and television industry, where she got her start as an assistant editor for a TV show by Michael Moore. Shashwati has taught at NYU, Arcadia and Temple University. Visit Shashwati’s production company: Four Nine and a Half Pictures. Email Shashwati at: shashwati@fournineandahalf.com

Over sixty million Indians belong to communities imprisoned by the British as “criminals by birth.” The Chhara of Ahmedabad, in Western India, are one of 198 such “Criminal Tribes.” Declaring that they are “born actors,” not “born criminals,” a group of Chhara youth have turned to street theater in their fight against police brutality, corruption, and the stigma of criminality — a stigma internalized by their own grandparents. Please Don’t Beat Me, Sir! follows the lives of these young actors and their families as they take their struggle to the streets, hoping their plays will spark a revolution. (75 min. 2011) [Learn more.]

Rangroot A teenaged crossdresser in a small town in India who is faced with the difficult decision to defy convention to follow his dream.

Antonymy Antonyms. So natural. But are they really?

With

May (Chih-Mei Chao)
Bonnie (Tzu-Han Weng)
Debbie (Chieh-Hua Yeh)
Zark (Hao-Hung Chung)

Camera
Kevin Chen

Assistant Producer
Vera Wu

Lucky Strike Ready! Aim! Light Up!

Lucky Strike commercials from the fifties and atomic bomb tests meet their match.

Thank you Rick Prelinger and Prelinger Archives

Find me on twitter: http://twitter.com/shashwati

Euthanized A woman. A man. A clarinet.

PS I think bratty boy artists should get what is coming to them. More often.

Taipei Station Slow Afternoon I spent an afternoon at the Taipei train station with my i-phone. It was a slow, leisurely afternoon for me, but not for the people who had places to go. I love having the luxury of being stationary in a place where everyone else is compelled to move.

This is a little animation I made using my i-phone, a gag software called Hipstamatic and FCP. The music is by Kevin McLeod of Incompetech.com.

Tahini and Tears Tahini and Tears is an “orientalist” fantasy about cruel and charming men and the foolish women who love them. Victor Casablanca, Mina and Jane are at the center of this fantastic drama about objects of desire and pain.

“Tahini and Tears is weird, fun, funny, and smart. Man, I wish I could be Victor Casablanca.”
Chris Garcia, Film Festivals.com; Fanboyplanet.com

Eunuch Alley A very unreal history of notorious criminal Charles Sobhraj, a journalist, his mother and some eunuchs.

The Bench A lonely man who discovers his inner child and joy. With Olga Humphrey. The actor is Lawrence Merritt, music by John Plenge of tonefactory.com.

Short and experimental films. Visit Shashwati on Vimeo to see more.

‘Wall Stories’ is a project about mural paintings in Dehradun. These paintings date from the 18th to the early 20th century, and can be found all along the valley.

Video on Demand

We are very happy to announce that, in an effort to ensure that as many people as possible see our film, we are now offering Please Don’t Beat Me, Sir! for online streaming via Vimeo On Demand. On Demand is a brand new distribution platform from Vimeo which allows you to watch films streaming on the web, smartphones, tablets, and on web-connected TVs (like Roku).

We hate paying for things which we don’t get to keep, so we are especially pleased that Vimeo offers filmmakers the option of including file downloads as well as online streaming. If you watch our film online on Vimeo you can also download a copy of the film to your own hard drive and watch it whenever and wherever you want.

NYIFF 2013 and Other Screenings

We are very happy to announce that Please Don’t Beat Me, Sir! will have its North American premier in New York City at the 13th Annual New York Indian Film Festival . (You can purchase tickets for the Saturday, May 4th screening via the website.)

Show in Portugal

If you are in Portugal and will be there at some point. My work will be in a group show at the Galeria Sment in Barcelos, Portugal, from May 27 to June 12. The show will be traveling across Portugal, so watch for updates.