MADHAVI

Jacintha Charles is a Singaporean Indian Filmmaker and Actress based in San Francisco, California.

She started her career as an actress in Singapore with the 1997 beloved hit feature film 'Army Daze'. What followed were smaller and stereotypical/insignificant roles on television which she knows, as part of the smallest minority in the country, her career as an actress was going to be highly restricted.

Her move to the U.S. offered more opportunities for auditions and projects however, she also fell in love with creating, writing and visualizing stories for the screen. Her motivation was further re-enforced when she realized from her experiences in Singapore to now in the U.S., the roles for women and minorities or people of colour, were not only limited or stereotyped but their strengths and choices were downplayed or seen as flaws. She decided to head to film school to develop her craft as a filmmaker and change that narrative. Through the belief and openness of others, Jacintha has been fortunate enough to have her works funded by the Singapore Film Commission and have screened her films at several film festivals. Her award-winning short film, The Gift, screened close to 40 film festivals and won several awards.

As a filmmaker, her journey is to constantly learn, be open and evolve thus re-discovering herself as a South Asian and a person of color with stories to share. Her goal is to inform and educate, include diversity in front of and behind the camera and champion and encourage others like her to tell stories of their own.

Madhavi's short screenplay was selected for the renowned Stowe Story Lab where it was further developed as a feature and has placed in several prominent screenwriting competitions while the short film is making its mark in festivals, having won Best Short Film at Oregon Short Film Fest and the prestigious UK Asian Film Festival in London.

She has recently completed a feature script, SINGAPURA, a coming-of-age story which is inspired by the 1964 Race Riots in Singapore between the Malays and Chinese told through the eyes two teenagers - a Malay girl and a Chinese boy.

Jacintha is member of the Alliance of Women Directors, Women in Film, Film Independent, The San Francisco Film Society and SAG-AFTRA.