Ashray

Ambika Samartha

Ambika Samartha

Documentary
Short Film

More About Ashray from Director Ambika Samartha

Ashray, one of the project organizations that makes up the Committed Communities Development Trust, is Bombay’s first home for children who have either been infected or affected by HIV. The children at Ashray are there because their parents are unable to provide for them and often are very sick or have passed away. Ashray does not do any mandatory testing on any of the children. None of the over fifty children nor the staff know which youth are infected with the virus. Universal precautions are taken with everyone, as if everyone has the virus. Ashray provides more than nutritional support and medical services to its youth. It provides a home where kids can learn English, bollywood dancing, art, and enjoy other activities outside of their regular schooling. It is a place where they come to feel part of a larger family. The house-mothers who live and work at Ashray, as well as the rest of the staff, are an intergral part of the children’s lives. While the children miss their parents, Ashray has become their new home and family.

When I was seventeen years old I went to India as part of a program where we gave educational presentations on HIV/AIDS to different schools and universities. One of the places we visited during our stay was Ashray, and I was inspired by the staff and the children there. I have always wanted to come back and document their lives.

I am currently proposing a feature documentary on other facets of CCD Trust – including a program where they take care of the children of prostitutes during the day and evening hours.

FILMMAKER BIOS

Ambika Samartha, Director & Producer

Ambika Samarthya has been a freelance director and producer for over five years. After receiving her BSFS at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service, she founded a South Asian American theatre company, Arth Films, LLC. She holds an MFA from Columbia where she was awarded a fellowship for her work with filmmakers of color. She directed her thesis, Room for One in 2003, while on her Fulbright Scholarship working in Bollywood in India. Room for One was screened at the Anthology Film Archives as part of a Women in Film series as well as by the UN Women’s NGO film works. Her piece on a bay area environmental co-op, Sol has been aired on Current TV. She has worked on tourism pieces on India and California for Turnhere, as well as several projects for different organizations. Ambika directed an award-winning public service announcement, Apple a Day, addressing environmental issues in New York City and her piece, Promise, won a prize at the 72 hour Asian American Shoot-Out in 2005. She currently is working on a feature about Project CHILD, another project under the CCDT umbrella.

Other works she has directed include Theen (Larzish Film Festival Mumbai, Dilateworld Multimedia Festival, New York Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, Indo Center of Art & Culture, Chingari VideoFest, Queer Filmistan Film Festival), and After (New York Asian American Int’l Film Festival, Washington DC Asian American Film Festival, Art in General video marathon, Asian American Legal Defense Fund, NYC & U Texas Austin Asian American Film curriculum).