Sundance’s Second Annual South Asian Lodge to Feature Fireside Chat With Mira Nair (Exclusive)

The Sundance Film Festival will once again feature a physical space focused on South Asian filmmaking.

Returning for its second year, the 1497 South Asian Lodge will feature a tribute to The Lunchbox, the beloved Irrfan Khan starrer that screened at Sundance exactly a decade ago. Its writer-director, Ritesh Batra, will be in attendance to discuss the making of the film and its legacy. Other highlight programming of the lodge, which will run Jan. 20 and 21, includes a fireside chat with Mira Nair (whose breakthrough classic Mississippi Masala is getting a restoration screening at the festival this year) and panels on decolonization through film as well as the media’s influence on Islamophobia.

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Speakers on the latter panel, presented by M Film Lab, include Pillars Foundation co-founder and president Kashif Shaikh, music executive Hiba Irshad, former Sundance Institute outreach and inclusion director and Muslim Futures creator Karim Ahmad and Doris Duke Foundation exec Zeyba Rahman.

Focusing intersectionally, the production company and consultancy Culture House will host the panel “The Collective Quest: Celebrating Unity in Black and Brown Creatives and Collaborators,” led by Culture House co-founders Raeshem Nijhon and Carri Twigg.

Parties and other social events packed into the South Asian Lodge’s two days include an Early Bird Programmers Gathering for participants of the Sundance Institute Artist Accelerator Program and other Sundance and 1497-supported filmmakers and the return of the Indiewire Chili Party, co-hosted with SAG-AFTRA. Zeemuffin will once again serve as music curator of the South Asian Lodge and will DJ and perform at its Sunday evening dance party, following deejaying and a performance by Jai Wolf at the dance party the night before.

Audible will also have a “Listening Station” lounge at the lodge, featuring excerpts of Audible Originals from South Asian creators. The South Asian Lodge is made possible with financial support from Shivhan Pictures.

“The 1497 South Asian Lodge at the Sundance Film Festival is a vital hub for cultural exchange,” 1497 co-founders Adeel Ahmed, Kamran Khan and Lipica Shah said in a joint statement. “It offers a platform where the richness of South Asian storytelling can converge with a global audience.” Further programming will be announced on the organization’s Instagram account, and those interested in attending can RSVP at events@1497.org.

See highlights from the inaugural South Asian Lodge at Sundance below.

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