NISHA GANATRA
As a producer and director on the Golden Globe winning Amazon series Transparent, Nisha Ganatra is continuing her mission of telling stories that she says “represent communities that are largely ignored in film and television.” Transparent focuses on an older transgender woman who comes out to her family. In Ganatra´s directorial film debut, Chutney Popcorn, Ganatra starred as a young Indian-American lesbian looking at the overlap between her sexual identity and cultural identity. And her latest film Code Academy explores a teenage cross-cultural romance between avatars. “The privilege of centering a story that others might discard as too specific a point of view-be that feminist, LGBTQIA, or first-generation American-is one that I find the most important and the most satisfying,” Ganatra says. She credits her family for accepting her sexuality when she came out as a teenager. “My parents came from India, my mom from the smallest village you can imagine, and she makes sure that I know she loves me.” Ganatra says other parents can learn from that example. “If any parents are reading this,” she says, “make sure your child knows that you love them. No matter what. Because your unconditional love is something they will need in ways they don´t even understand yet.” -SJ
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