Passage
Finding herself in a state of limbo, an Indian woman revisits her immigration journey and voyages through a tempestuous emotional landscape of memory, identity, belonging and the illusion of the American Dream.
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Asavari KumarDirector
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Asavari KumarWriter
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Siddharth ZutshiProducer
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Asavari KumarProducer
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Shaivalini KumarArt Direction
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Shaivalini KumarProduction Design
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Asavari KumarProduction Design
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Katherine DallimoreProduction Design
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Olivia PellicerCharacter Animation
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Katherine DallimoreSecondary Animation & Color
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Millie WoodcockMotion Graphics & Compositing
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Asavari KumarMotion Graphics & Compositing
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Shruti KumarMusic Composition & Sound Design
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Madame GandhiNarration
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Eva ReistadSound Engineer
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Mario AyalaWebsite & Digital Design
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Debarpan DasWebsite & Digital Design
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Supernova DesignProduction Company
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asavari kumarKey Cast
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Project Type:Animation, Short
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Genres:Drama
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Runtime:5 minutes 15 seconds
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Completion Date:May 15, 2019
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Production Budget:7,000 USD
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Country of Origin:India
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Country of Filming:United States
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Language:English
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Shooting Format:Digital
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Aspect Ratio:16.9
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
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Universe Multicultural Film Festival 2020
United States
Best Animated Short -
San Francisco Independent Film Festival 2020San Francisco
United States
Jury Prize - Best Animated Short -
Los Angeles Animation Festival 2019Los Angeles
United States
December 7, 2019
Silver - Best Experimental Short -
International Shorts 2019Southbank
Australia
Finalist - Best Animated Short Film -
New Generations – Independent Indian Film Festival 2019Frankfurt
Germany
Short Film Wallah Award -
LA Femme International Film Festival 2019Los Angeles
United States
Best Animated Short -
Indie & Foreign Film Festival 2019New York
United States
Best Animation -
Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival 2020Los Angeles
United States
Official Selection -
Adirondack Film Festival 2020
United States
Official Selection -
Annual Copenhagen Film Festival 2020Copenhagen
Denmark
Official Selection -
Pune Short Film Festival 2020Pune
India
Official Selection -
Fort Myers Film 2020Fort Myers
United States
Official Selection -
American Documentary & Animation Film Festival 2020Palm Springs
United States
Official Selection -
IFFSA Toronto 2020Toronto
Canada
Official Selection -
Global Impact Film Festival 2020
United States
Official Selection -
Austin Asian American Film Festival 2020Austin
United States
Official Selection -
Splice Film Festival 2020
United States
Official Selection -
International Migration Film Festival 2020
United States
Official Selection -
Show Me Justice Film Festival 2020
United States
Official Selection -
Queens World Film Festival 2020
United States
Official Selection -
Garden State Film Festival 2020
United States
Official Selection -
International Changing Perspectives Short Film Festival 2020
Official Selection -
Seattle Asian American Film Festival 2020Seattle
United States
Official Selection -
Jaipur International Film Festival 2020Jaipur
India
Asia
Official Selection -
North Dakota Human Rights Arts Festival 2020Fargo
United States
Official Selection -
Factual Animation Film Festival 2019London
United Kingdom
Official Selection -
SOUQ Film Festival 2019Milan
Italy
European
Official Selection -
St. Louis International Film Festival 2019St. Louis, MO
United States
Official Selection -
ANIMAINE The Maine Animation Festival 2019south portland
United States
Official Selection -
Tasveer South Asian Film Festival 2019Seattle
United States
Official Selection
Asavari is an Animation Director from New Delhi, India currently based in Los Angeles. She owns and operates the collective - Supernova Design through which she creates commercial and personal projects while collaborating with POC and women artists. Her client list includes - Google, Youtube, Slack & Disney amongst others.
Asavari’s films, installations and graphic narratives have been showcased at national and international film festivals and exhibition spaces including the Los Angeles Zine Fest, Ottawa International Animation Festival, Pune International Film Festival, La Gaîté Lyrique and Maison des Metallos. Her projects have also been featured in Kyoorius Design Magazine, Cartoon Brew, STASH and Animation Reporter Magazine.
Through her body of work, Asavari uses character driven storytelling to parse cultural and political identity and generate a discourse surrounding ideas of ‘home’ and ‘belonging’ and find where her own narrative intersects with those around her.
Asavari holds a BFA in Animation Film Design from the National Institute of Design (Ahmedabad), and an MFA in Experimental Animation from the California Institute of the Arts.
After the presidential elections of 2016, like many others I felt an ominous paradigm shift. Rising anti-immigrant sentiment and white nationalism mixed in with the horrors brought to light by the MeToo movement, created a perfect storm of fear, disillusionment and helplessness. Passage was created in response to these forces while exploring the intersecting narratives of varied immigrant experiences. The film is based on my own immigration experience and hopes to steer the conversation away from divisive discourses within the immigrant community and shift focus towards more hopeful and inclusive narratives and discover overlapping experiences. I chose to be intentional not just about what I make but about who I worked with. In the creation of this project I sought out collaborators and artists that believed in the ethos of the film and were conscious of the lack of representation of women and POC artists in the entertainment and media Industry. The team is spread across Los Angeles, San Francisco, Copenhagen, New Delhi and Norwich, bringing a wealth of professional and cultural insight to this film.