Kaveri Kaul

Kaveri Kaul, formerly known as Kavery Dutta, is a Kolkata-born, American filmmaker and founder of the production company, Riverfilms. Her directing and producing credits include Back Walking Forward, Long Way from Home, Cuban Canvas, One Hand Don’t Clap, and First Look.

Early life and education Kavery Kaul (Bengali: কাবেরি) (born Kavery Dutta) was born on October 19, 1952 in Kolkata, India. She immigrated to the United States at age five with her family. Her mother Kanak Dutta was a history teacher, and her father M. Jan Dutta was an economist.

Kaul attended Friends’ Central School near Philadelphia and Rutgers Preparatory School in Somerset, New Jersey. She received her bachelor's degree in English literature

Career

Before setting out as a director, Kaul headed for Paris in 1973, “If you know how to put a story together in the end, you know what to look for when you’re filming. Editing teaches directing,” she once said.

She launched her filmmaking career as producer and director of the documentary First Look.

Kaul has taught as an adjunct professor at Columbia University, City College of New York (CCNY) and School of Visual Arts (SVA NYC).

The Bengali (2021) In 2021, Kaul released the documentary The Bengali, which follows Fatima Shaik as she travels to India to discover more about the history of her family. Kaul then spent two years conducting research with records, stories and other documentation, which led to a Fulbright-Nehru senior research fellowship for Kaul to fund the film,

Other work Kaul has always questioned who tells the story and whose voice is heard --- on or off screen. She was one of the first South Asians to serve on the Selection Committee of the Asian American International Film Festival (AIFF). She served on the Jury for the Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council (MIAAC) Film Festival. She is a co-founder of Manavi, the first organization created to stop violence against South Asian women in the U.S. Kaul is author of the articles “Of Slumdogs and Loveleen” for Women's Media Center, “Family Values” in A. Magazine, and “Cinema in India” in Filmmakers Newsletter. Her TEDx Talk addressed the importance of stories that connect people.

Awards and honors

Kaul's honors include: Fulbright Scholar, and is the recipient of a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship. Her films have screened at the Telluride Film Festival, London Film Festival, Rotterdam Film Festival, Film Festival of India, FESPACO (Burkina Faso), DOC NYC, Havana Film Festival New York, Margaret Mead Film Festival, Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival. Her documentaries have been shown in theaters and on television, in the U.S. and internationally. They have been featured at distinguished venues including: National Museum of Women in the Arts, The Kennedy Center, Whitney Museum of American Art, High Museum of Art, and Cleveland Museum of Art. Her work has received the support of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Best Cultural Film Award (Havana), and a Proclamation of Excellence from New York City.

Filmography 1988 First Look (Documentary – director, producer) 1991 One Hand Don’t Clap (Documentary – director, producer, editor) ???? Soul Gone Home (Fiction – director, producer) 1995 Wild at Art (Documentary – director, producer) 2006 Long Way from Home (Documentary – director, producer) 2011 Back Walking Forward (Documentary – director, producer) 2018 Cuban Canvas