Husband and wife team Adam J. Graves and Suchitra Mattai’s “Anuja”, a short film about a little girl growing up in child labor, won Best Live Action Short at HollyShorts Film Festival on Sunday in Los Angeles.

Written and directed by Graves and produced by Mattai, “Anuja” tells the story of an exceptionally bright 9-year-old, Anuja (Sajda Pathan), who works with her 17-year-old sister Palak (Ananya Shanbhag) at a garment factory in Delhi, India. When a teacher promises Anuja the rare chance to attend an elite boarding school, Anuja faces a difficult decision.

The narrative short was produced in association with Shine Global. With this win at HollyShorts, “Anuja” is now eligible to be nominated in one of the Oscars’ three shorts categories.

“Anuja” was developed with help from the India-based non-profit Salaam Baalak Trust, which was founded by Dr. Praveen Nair after her daughter Mira Nair’s film Salaam Bombay! exposed the harsh conditions of children living on the streets.

Pathan, who plays the lead role of Anuja, brings her personal experience to the role. She currently lives in an SBT home that provides shelter and education for girls formerly living on the street.

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More About HollyShorts Winner Anuja

Poster for “Anuja” courtesy of Shine Global

Graves met with multiple girls who had experienced child labor while researching for “Anuja”.

“I felt it was important to make a film that was true to their experiences, but was also something they would want to watch and discuss themselves—one that drew from reality, but without focusing excessively on the doom-and-gloom,” he said in his director’s statement. “I wanted to capture that wondrous combination of magic and emotion, of innocence and mischief, which is part of childhood itself—these are kids after all, not statistics.”

He added: “Though every film is collaborative, this one was much more so than most. Were it not for the talent and support of the children of the Salaam Baalak Trust (especially our brilliant star, Sajda Pathan), we never could have brought this important story to the screen. “

The film’s other producing partner, Shine Global, is also non-profit that seeks to improve children’s’ lives through powerful storytelling. The company also worked on the Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning War/Dance (2007) and the Oscar-winning short documentary Inocente (2012), and is a member organization of the End US Child Labor Campaign.

In addition to Pathan and Shanbhag, the cast of “Anuja” also includes Nagesh Bhonsle (Hotel Mumbai), Aaron Kopp (Saving Face, Liyana, Hunting Ground) and Krushan Naik (Resurgence), who also serve as producers alongside Michael Graves, Ksheetij Saini, Shine Global creative director Alexandra Blaney, Susan MacLaury, and Albie Hecht.  

Graves has a B.A. in South Asian studies and a Ph.D. in the philosophy of religion from the University of Pennsylvania. He has lived in India, where he studied Sanskrit at the Banaras Hindu University, conducted grant-supported research, and volunteered with several youth-focused nonprofits. He’s a professor of philosophy at MSU Denver, and is the author of The Phenomenology of Revelation in Heidegger, Marion, and Ricoeur.

His past film experience includes writing, directing and producing the 2021 short “Cycle Vérité.” He’s currently producing and editing his next documentary short, “The Other Side of the Sun.”

Mattai is a South Asian artist who celebrates the power of women, reimagines historical narratives, and explores her family’s history of indentured labor. She has an M.F.A. in painting and drawing as well as an M.A. in South Asian art from the University of Pennsylvania. Her works are on display in the collections of Crystal Bridges Museum of Art, the Nasher Museum of Art, the Denver Art Museum, the Tampa Museum of Art, the Joselyn Museum, the Tia Collection, the Perez Collection, the Shah Garg collection, and the University of Michigan Museum of Art. Upcoming projects include solo exhibitions at the ICA San Francisco (San Francisco), the Tampa Museum of Art (Tampa, FL), the National Museum for Women in the Arts (Washington, DC) and Socrates Sculpture Park (NYC, NY).  She also produced Graves’ “Cycle Vérité.”

Main Image: L to R: Producer Krushan Naik, producer Suchitra Mattai, and writer/director Adam J. Graves at HollyShorts