Pooja Sharma putschka@yahoo.co.in
Pooja is a cinematographer and educator known for her versatility and commitment. She has shot several award-winning films across genres.
Trained in architecture at Delhi’s prestigious School of Planning and Architecture, Pooja went on to spend two years with the NGO TARAgyan (a division of Development Alternatives), where she worked in education and training. An abiding interest in photography her to the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, from where she graduated with a Diploma in Motion Picture Photography. Her diploma film Gadha Janam Safal was selected for the International Film Festival of India Panorama, 2006.
Pooja believes her work in documentary filmmaking enriches her fiction storytelling and vice versa. She cherishes her wide-ranging body of work. She has held workshops in cinematography at MIT, Pune and Light and Life Academy, Ooty.
She is based in Coonoor, Mumbai and Delhi, and travels widely.
Selected filmography:
Lovers of Flavour [Series of short films for TRS Foods (UK)]
Director: George Mangalath Thomas
Gold – British Asian Media Awards 2019
Tathagat (Feature film)
Director: Manav Kaul
Work in Progress Lab, NFDC Film Bazaar, IFFI 2014
Released on Mubi in 2021
Kaveri (Short film)
Director: Shilpa Munikempanna
Best Short Fiction Award, International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala, 2011
Short film Retrospective, Clermont Ferrand Short Film Festival 2013
International Premier, 41st ‘Molodist’ Kyiv International Film festival, Ukraine 2011
Official Selection, International female film festival, Malmö, Sweden 2012
Official Selection, Créteil International Women’s Film Festival, France 2012, among many more
I Am (Feature documentary co shot with the director Sonali Gulati
Grand Jury Prize: Best documentary, IFFLA
Best Documentary Feature, Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award, Asian Film Festival of Dallas
Audience Award: Best Documentary, Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival, among many more
Screened at many festivals worldwide
It’s a Boy! (It’s going to be a Boy)
Director: Vani Subramanian
Best Documentary, Bollywood and Beyond Indian Film Festival, Stuttgart, Germany 2008
All Rise for Your Honour
Director: Sumit Khanna
Silver, Indian Documentary Producers’ Association Awards, 2011
The Man who Dwarfed the Mountains
Director: Sumit Khanna
National Award for Best Agriculture Film, 2015
Swap Kerja (1 episode)
Director: Joyce Lee
Outstanding Variety Series, 4th Asian Rainbow Television Awards 2019
Jasa Activis (2 episodes)
Director: Loh Kok Hong
Silver World Medal, New York Festivals TV & Film Awards 2019
Swap Kerja Season 3 (2 episodes)
Director: Loh Kok Hong
Finalist Award (Lifestyle Program), New York Festivals TV & Film Award 2020
Ekspedisi Ekstrem (2 episodes)
Director: Loh Kok Hong
Bronze (Lifestyle Program), in New York Festivals TV&Film Award 2022
Can we see the Baby Bump Please
Director: Surabhi Sharma
Bachelor Girls (Co shot with director)
Director: Shikha Makan
Multiple corporate and CSR films for the Aditya Birla Group
Director: George Mangalath Thomas
Art projects with Carlos Motta, and Ashok Sukumaran and Shaina Anand (CAMP, Mumbai)