Pankaja
TITLE
Pankaja
DIRECTOR
Anooya Swamy
COUNTRY
USA, India
YEAR
2026
DURATION
14′
GENRE
Fiction
Pankaja
The story follows Pankaja, a woman who, along with her daughter Lalli, desperately navigates the city slums and bureaucracy of Bangalore in a quest to locate her missing husband.
DIRECTOR BIOGRAPHY - Anooya Swamy
Anooya Swamy is a New York–based Indian filmmaker born and raised in Bangalore, pursuing her MFA in film/TV production at Tisch School of the Arts, where she served as Spike Lee’s assistant. She is an Ang Lee Scholar, a BAFTA Scholar, and a Sundance Ignite x Adobe fellow.
- DirectorAnooya Swamy
- ScreenplayAnooya Swamy
- CinematographyLuke Kao
- Cast Harshini Boyalla, Padmashree G.
- EditingAnooya Swamy, Maria Belu Poncio
- Producer/s Anooya Anooya, Nakirekanti Swamy, Archana Swamy, Vindhya Gupta
- Production Company
- Distributor/sLights On Film
- Project TitlePankaja
- Project Type Fiction
- Completion Date22 Jan 2026
- Country of originUSA, India
- Country of filming USA, India
- LanguageKannada, Telugu
- First-time Filmmaker No
- Student ProjectYes
Anooya Swamy
Anooya Swamy is a New York–based Indian filmmaker born and raised in Bangalore, pursuing her MFA in film/TV production at Tisch School of the Arts, where she served as Spike Lee’s assistant. She is an Ang Lee Scholar, a BAFTA Scholar, and a Sundance Ignite x Adobe fellow.
Sundance Film Festival 2026, USA – World Premiere
SXSW London 2026, UK
Milano Film Fest 2026, Italy
Festival Internacional de Cine de Huesca 2026, Spain
The Norwegian Short Film Festival 2026
Raindance Film Festival 2026, UK – Best Live Action Short Award
FEST – New Directors/New Films Festival 2026, Portugal
Palm Springs International ShortFest 2026, USA – Best Student U.S. Short Award
Shorts International Film Festival 2026, Italy
DokuFest 2026, Kosovo
HollyShorts Film Festival 2026, USA
Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2026, Australia
