Nani Sahra Walker (Nepal/USA)

Nani Sahra Walker is a Nepali-American filmmaker, journalist and educator. She has been documenting social change over the past decade, from LGBTQ rights in Nepal and voting rights in the American South to the global anti-casteist movement. Her non-fiction work has been featured in The Atlantic, National Geographic, Amazon and the Los Angeles Times, where she is a senior staff journalist and immersive producer. She co-directed Forced (2018), a short documentary about three women rebuilding their lives after escaping Boko Haram in Nigeria. The film premiered at RiverRun International Film Festival, screened at the Montreal International Black Film Festival, and was nominated for an International Documentary Association award. Her feature documentary Other Nature (2012) screened at Outfest and Frameline among dozens of festivals worldwide, and is currently distributed by the Center for Asian American Media. Nani is a lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley.

Shakti (The Silence of Birds) To tame her mischief, a single mother enrolls her nine-year-old daughter in private painting lessons in Kathmandu until she suddenly catches a mysterious illness. When doctors are unable to pin down a diagnosis, her strong-willed mother turns to a local shaman who reveals shared trauma that leads mother and daughter down a path of redemption and healing.