Sandhya Suri

Sandhya Suri is a British-Indian film director and documentarian. She is known for her debut feature film Santosh, which she wrote and directed.

Early life and education Sandhya Suri was born in England and raised in Darlington. Her father, Yash Pal Suri, had emigrated from India to work as a doctor at a hospital in Teesside.

After earning a degree in mathematics, Suri worked as a teacher in Japan. Her experiences documenting this period on camera inspired her to study documentary filmmaking at the National Film and Television School in Buckinghamshire.

Suri's second film, the silent 2018 documentary Around India with a Movie Camera, used archival British Film Institute footage to explore life in British India. That same year, Suri released the narrative short film The Field, which was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Short Film in 2019. She first began work on Santosh in 2016 when she was accepted to the Sundance Institute Director's Lab.

Awards and nominations Year Award Category Nominated work Result Ref. 2006 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize I for India London Film Festival Best Short Film Toronto International Film Festival Best International Short Film 2019 BAFTA Film Awards Best Short Film Melbourne International Film Festival Best Fiction Short Film Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize for Best Short Film 2024 Cannes Film Festival Un Certain Regard Santosh