Shalini Kantayya is a two-time Emmy-nominated filmmaker whose fiction and nonfiction work explores the intersection of science, technology, and storytelling. Her film TIKTOK, BOOM. was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and was an official selection of the SXSW Film Festival. Her critically acclaimed Sundance Film Festival film CODED BIAS was broadcast nationally on Independent Lens and released globally on Netflix in 2021. The film received nominations for the Critics Choice and NAACP Image Awards Awards, and won Best Director at the Social Impact Media Awards and the Visionary Filmmaker Award at GlobeDocs Film Festival. Both TIKTOK, BOOM. and CODED BIAS received Emmy nominations.
Her debut feature, CATCHING THE SUN, was released globally on Netflix on Earth Day 2016, with executive producer Leonardo DiCaprio, and was named a The New York Times Critics’ Pick. Shalini has also directed for National Geographic’s series Breakthrough, executive produced by Ron Howard, as well as episodes of NOVA and projects for YouTube Originals. She is a TED Fellows Fellow, a Fulbright Program Scholar, and a Concordia Studio Artist Fellow.