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Making a Mark

Aadhya, a polymath in another time and place, needs to make a mark on her cave wall in the face of impending doom.

  • Gaurav Cedric Bhatnagar
    Director
  • Gaurav Cedric Bhatnagar
    Writer
  • Nivedita Mahesh
    Starring
  • Shaan Dasani
    Starring
    Criminal Minds, Glee, Eat Your Words, The Threading Wrap
  • Anu Gunn
    Cinematographer
    Jai Ho, Attack of Life: The Bang Tango Movie
  • Alonso Dominguez
    Set Design
  • Neel Agrawal
    Music
  • Shreyas Srinivas
    Sound
    Holiday, Sable, Misfortune
  • Andrew Holscher
    Sound
    Haydens Woods, Truth or Dare
  • Benji S
    Titles
    Infinite
  • Raaj Jadaun
    Producer
    Lens
  • Aalok Mehta
    Producer
    What Goes Around
  • Pipo Wagner
    Producer
    Lens, Good Day, Becoming Lucy
  • Ian Sproul
    Colorist
  • Sebastian Ruiz
    Gaffer
  • Gaurav Cedric Bhatnagar
    Editors
  • Mo Lenjavi
    Editors
  • Pipo Wagner
    First Assistant Director
  • Beatrice Belli
    Production Coordinator
  • Alejandra Cabuya
    Script Supervisor
  • Traci Petraglia
    Makeup Department
  • Carmelita Contreras
    Makeup Department
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Music Video, Short, Student
  • Genres:
    Dance, Bharatanatyam, Tabla, World Music, Indian, South Asian
  • Runtime:
    5 minutes 24 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    August 20, 2016
  • Production Budget:
    2,500 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    Yes
  • Subdrift Boston
    Boston
    United States
    August 24, 2016
Director Biography - Gaurav Cedric Bhatnagar

Gaurav Cedric Bhatnagar is a filmmaker and technologist based in Los Angeles. He was born in France to parents emigrating from India and grew up in Michigan. Film, music and video games have been inspiring and uplifting for Gaurav since he was young. He wants to bring similar delight, learning and shifts in consciousness to others by drawing upon his love for people, nature, understanding our interconnectedness and addressing the roots of our violence toward one another.

Gaurav moved to Los Angeles in 2014 to focus on filmmaking and collaborating with musicians. He has since designed, developed and produced interactive digital content for musicians including photography, video, animation and custom software development. Artists include Lord Huron, Neel Agrawal, Saraswathi Jones, Brett Farkas, We Are The West and The Shenkar.

Gaurav wrote, directed and edited his first narrative short film in 2016 with a crew of 18 wonderful and talented individuals in Los Angeles. He is currently working on his second short and serving as a cultural and social justice producer on a feature film based in Mumbai, India.

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Director Statement

Making a Mark is my first short film. I set out to tell a story about the creative process while exploring my heritage as a first-generation Indian raised in America. Divergent energies of various kinds, including masculine and feminine, known and unknown, are explored as the driving force of the creative process. The film has been made with a cast and crew of predominantly Indian descent and features no spoken dialog. The story is conveyed instead through Bharatanatyam dance, a classical Indian dance form, and music featuring the tabla, an Indian percussion instrument.

This film holds a special place in my heart and memory as the first time I experienced the true magic of filmmaking as a group of individuals brought their experience, talents and energy together to realize a vision I saw. As the film came together with the unique contributions of many through a variety of communication modes and quick solutions to practical challenges, I was pleasantly thrilled to see what we experienced and created together match and surpass the vision I had in mind.