Akanksha Cruczynski* is a writer and filmmaker based in New York City. Originally from India and having grown up in Saudi Arabia, Akanksha has a BA in from DePauw University and an MFA in Cinema Directing from Columbia College Chicago. She trained in improvisation and sketch comedy at The Second City, iO and Annoyance Theater. Her graduate thesis film "Close Ties to Home Country" premiered at Sundance, won the Student Academy Award, and is currently distributed at Focus Features. It also won awards at Telluride, Aspen, Chicago International Film Festival and more. Akanksha is currently adapting it into a feature.

*Polish? No. When her parents divorced, 14-year-old angsty teen Akanksha changed her last name to her favorite character's—Clementine Kruczynski in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." She did not know it was a Polish name or that that mattered.