Odisha’s filmmaker Lipika made the state proud
Lipika Singh Darai from Odisha selected in the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Breakthrough India 2023 list
Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s filmmaker Lipika Singh Darao made the state proud by being selected as part of British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Breakthrough India 2023 list.
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.
BAFTA Breakthrough India showcases and supports the next generation of creative talent working in Indian film, games and television, identifying excellent individuals who have had a breakthrough year in the industry.
Successful Breakthroughs receive full membership of BAFTA for a year including access to BAFTA’s virtual programme of events and screenings for 12 months; one-to-one industry meetings; access to Career Coaching sessions and support with professional skills development, as well as global networking opportunities both with industry and peer to peer.
The talented newcomers from film, games and television who have been selected as this year’s BAFTA Breakthrough India participants by a distinguished jury of industry experts, including Jury Chair and BAFTA Breakthrough Ambassador Guneet Monga Kapoor, Manvendra Shukul, Monika Shergil, Rajiv Menon, Naman Ramachandran, Sid Roy Kapur, Shaunak Sen and Ratna Pathak Shah.
Along with Lipika other Indians who are selected are writer AbhayKoranee, Editor Abhinav Tyagi, director Do Chacko Palathara, director Miriam Chandy Meecherry, Wildlife Cinematographer Pooja Rajkumar, Edito/Mixer Sanal George, Cinematographer Satya Rai Nagpaul and Performer Shardul Bhardawaj