After unexpectedly losing her hearing, a young Indian singer discovers a new sense of self through experiencing music in a transformative way.
CAPE Julia S. Gouw & Janet Yang 2024 Grant Winner Type: Live Action Short Writer/Director: Radha Mehta Casting Director: Keertana Sastry Producers: Pallavi Sastry, Samudrika Arora Genre: Family Drama, Coming of Age Film Dates: January 14-19, 2025 (Each role will shoot 1-3 days in that range) Shoot Location: Los Angeles Contract: SAG Modified Low Budget (open to union and non union talent)
CHARACTER BREAKDOWN FOR LEAD ROLES:
LAKSHMI - character portrayed is female, 9-14, South Asian. A sensitive yet emotionally mature, talented piano player and singer who can voice Indian raags and western pop tunes. Once Lakshmi meets with an accident and learns about her new diagnosis, she waivers between defeat, curiosity and resilience. PIANO and SINGING SKILLS NECESSARY.
SAVITA - character portrayed is female, 40s, South Asian. A strong independent, talented musician and deeply loving mother yet vulnerable and lonely. When her daughter, Lakshmi, meets with difficult complications after an accident, Savita is determined to help her regain her new sense of self. HINDI or GUJARATI SKILLS NECESSARY. SITAR and SINGING SKILLS NECESSARY.
Please note: -All roles are open to union and non union talents. -Casting is open to submissions from talents based anywhere in the world as long as talent can work as LA local. If you are not based in LA, please only apply if you can provide your own travel to/from LA and hotel/lodging in LA if cast.
Click here for SUBMISSION FORM The submission form requires a Google account. If there’s any trouble accessing, email at sunna.shortfilm@gmail.com.
About the Writer/Director, Radha Mehta (she/her): Radha Mehta is a Director/Writer/Artist with original works in film, music, and paintings. She earned an MFA in Film (Directing) at American Film Institute; is a Disability Belongs Entertainment Fellow; and a voting member of The Recording Academy. Her works stem from personal experience as a South Asian first-gen mother who explores themes of motherhood, self empowerment, and dismantling cultural taboos around mental health and disabilities. Radha’s Slamdance Spirit Award winning short film, “DOSH” about a hard-of-hearing mother who seeks help for her family in the midst of a fatal crisis, is touring the film festival circuit along with her two other live action shorts “Witness” (Grantee of Tasveer/Netflix Film Fund, InsideOut RE:Focus, and Islamic Scholarship Fund) and “Winds of Silence” (in partnership with UN Women, British Film Institute, Geena Davis Institute, and South Asian SOAR). Her past film "Evan Ever After" won Audience Awards and Jury Awards at Oscar-qualifying film festivals Florida Film Fest and Out on Film Fest; and "Being Gina" was a Top-3 Finalist for the STARZ/WRAP/Lionsgate "Stories We Tell" Competition which was revealed at the Variety Power Women Summit in 2021.
Director’s Statement: SŪNNA is a hopeful story inspired by how I first learned to sing with my Hard-of-Hearing disability. I was diagnosed with a near-fatal staph infection when I was 6 months old which eventually led to a severe sensorineural hearing loss in both my ears. Prior to getting my hearing aids, I’d been shamed by fellow peers who would call me “deaf and dumb”, and by my Indian community as being flawed and punished by “God”, which led me to be depressed. My mother, a devotional singer/sitarist, then turned me onto music to lift my spirits. She taught me how to sing through the power of vibrations of the throat, harmonium, piano, and pitch through a visual tuner. Music then gave me a new life. I’d since become a singer-songwriter who has performed in front of thousands of people around the world with original music licensed for film and TV. Now as a filmmaker, I enjoy creating stories I wish I’d seen to lift me out of my own darkness, centering around characters such as “Lakshmi” who come into their own, empowered and unapologetically as their true selves.