Anu Rana

Anuradha Rana is an independent filmmaker and educator who has produced and directed award-winning films internationally. Born and raised in India, her immigrant roots create the lens of a curious interloper at the heart of her films, where everyday characters push conventional boundaries. She is currently in production on Language of Opportunity, a feature length documentary about how language informs personal and cultural identity. The film was selected for the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) Fellowship 2019, and the TFI Network in 2020. She just completed Musher, an inter-generational portrait of four women sled-dog racers in the Upper-Midwest. Her short documentary, counter//balance, explores memory and loss as dancers with differing abilities craft an inclusive performance. The film won awards for Best Directing and Best Short Documentary while it screened at over 60 film festivals around the world. She is producing Brewer, a short poetic documentary that highlights women in brewing and normalizes their presence in a male dominated space which was selected to pitch at Tribeca If/Then shorts; and fiction feature, The Punk Show in Chicago, selected for the Chicago Independent Producer’s Lab 2021 organized by Full Spectrum Features and the Department of Cultural and Special Events (DCASE), Chicago. Anuradha is the Creative Lead for the Diverse Voices in Doc Fellowship organized by Kartemquin Films and Community Film Workshop of Chicago. She was named one of Chicago Film’s 50 Screen Gems by Newcity Magazine in 2017 and 2019, a DCASE Esteemed Artist and a Documentary New Leader by DOC NYC in 2021. She is an Associate Professor and Co-Chair of the Documentary Program at DePaul University’s School of Cinematic Arts and a recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Award.