Our Team

Producer, Writer/Director

Leena Manimekalai is a leading Tamil poet and a multiple award winning intersectional queer feminist filmmaker. Her voice is distinct, as she is a 'genre no bar' artist. Her strong repertoire of films with an impressive exhibition record covering over 100 International Film Festivals includes the acclaimed ‘Maadathy-an unfairy tale’ (Feature Fiction), ‘the Sengadal-the Dead sea’ (Cinema Verite), ‘White Van Stories’ (Feature Documentary), ‘Is it too much to ask’ (Mockumentary), ‘Goddesses’ (Short Documentary) and ‘My Mirror is the Door’ (Cine Poem). She is an interventionist and her forte is participatory filmmaking. Her tryst with censorship, both constitutional and extra constitutional, as a brown queer female body, as a poet and as a politically unapologetic filmmaker is in itself a meta narrative in her journey as an Artist. She was recently chosen as a  BAFTA India Breakthrough Talent (2022-23), named  Artist in Residence  by the University Toronto(2023), profiled as one of the twenty artists who inspire change globally by  PEN America (2023). She has a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Film from York University and is currently teaching Undergraduate students at the Department of Visual Studies, University of Toronto, Mississauga. 

Producer

Mathew Edassery is a Toronto-based activist producer, who creates spaces to promote diverse South

Asian & BIPOC talents in the Canadian Film, Music and Media landscape. With a Master of International Business from the University of Wollongong in Dubai & a Bachelor of Social Work from Rajagiri College of Social Sciences (India), Mathew leverages his educational background & 15 years of experience in for-profit & non-profit organizations across different countries & cultures. Acting on the dream of creating media to inspire change & influence action towards an inclusive & just

world, he is a Co-founder & Director of Karuvachy Films Canada Inc - producing impactful cinema addressing intersectional topics of climate, race and gender.' Mathew is also Partner-Director of Dream Machine Productions Inc, a Toronto based Event Company unleashing a new wave of South Asian sound, culture and creative energy into the North American entertainment scene.

Producer

Elango Raghupathy had a humble beginning as a first Assistant Director in Tamil Film

Industry and during his two decades of experience gained the rare privilege of working across genres in Television, OTT and Feature Films. He had huge success both as an Executive Producer and Commissioned Producer with Television Channels like Star Vijay Television, Zee, Enadu, Sun Network producing small screen sensations across the formats of reality shows, tele-serials and Tele-films. He has a unique experience as a Campaign Manager and Event Producer nationally and internationally producing multi camera outdoor shows. His forte is creative production and ran the floor for Director Leena Manimekalai's independent features and documentaries to fruition.