Nishtha Jain

{{Short description|Indian film director and producer}}

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{{Use Indian English|date=August 2018}}

Nishtha Jain is an Indian film director and producer best known for her documentaries like Gulabi Gang (2012), [https://www.nishthajainfilms.com/lakshmi-and-me Lakshmi and Me] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220107031855/https://www.nishthajainfilms.com/lakshmi-and-me |date=7 January 2022 }} (2007) and [https://www.nishthajainfilms.com/city-of-photos City of Photos] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220107031905/https://www.nishthajainfilms.com/city-of-photos |date=7 January 2022 }} (2004). Her films interrogate lived experience at the intersection of gender, caste and class. They explore the political in the personal and uncover the mechanisms of privilege.{{Cite journal|last=Matzner|first=Deborah|date=2012-01-01|title=Domestic Concerns, Transnational Fields: Two Recent Documentary Films from Mumbai and an "Interstitial Mode of Production"|url=https://doi.org/10.1177/097492761100300104|journal=BioScope: South Asian Screen Studies|language=en|volume=3|issue=1|pages=35–51|doi=10.1177/097492761100300104|s2cid=144499019|issn=0974-9276|url-access=subscription}} In addition to documentary film, she's been working across various platforms including narrative ([https://www.nishthajainfilms.com/saboot-proof Saboot/Proof [2019]]) and virtual reality ([https://www.nishthajainfilms.com/submerged Submerged][https://www.nishthajainfilms.com/submerged [2016]]).

Her training began at A.J.K. Mass Communication Research Centre at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.{{Cite web|date=2020-07-05|title=3 Jamia Millia Islamia Alumni Invited to Be Members by the Academy|url=https://www.thequint.com/entertainment/celebrities/3-jamia-millia-islamia-students-invited-as-members-to-the-academy|access-date=2021-03-07|website=The Quint}} She then worked as an editor and correspondent for video news magazines Newstrack and Eyewitness. After this, she studied at Film and Television Institute of India, specializing in film direction.

Jain has served as a juror at IDFA, ZFF, Cinéma Vérité and IDSFFK.  She's given lectures and master classes at numerous universities  internationally, including Stanford, NYU, Wellesley College, UCSB, Northwestern University, UT Austin,  Cambridge University, University of London, St. Andrews University, Heidelberg, Danish Film School, FTII Pune, India, Satyajit Ray Film & TV Institute.

Her films have received several international awards and have been extensively shown in international film festivals, broadcast on international TV networks and regularly shown in schools and colleges in India and abroad.{{cite web|title=Norwegian Film Database|url=http://www.nfi.no/english/norwegianfilms/search/Person?key=101717|publisher=Norwegian Film Institute|accessdate=14 February 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303222841/http://www.nfi.no/english/norwegianfilms/search/Person?key=101717|archive-date=3 March 2016|url-status=dead}} She's a [https://chickeneggpics.org/grantee/2020-chicken-egg-award-recipient-3/ Chicken & Egg Award winner] (2020); [https://www.oscars.org/news/academy-invites-819-membership Member of the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences] (AMPAS); [https://www.filmindependent.org/programs/global-media-makers/meet-the-fellows/ Film Independent Global Media Maker Fellow] (2019–20); and recipient of [http://www.usief.org.in/scholar-profile/scholarprofiledetails.aspx?fellowid=11707 Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Fellowship] (2019).{{Cite web|title=ABOUT|url=https://www.nishthajainfilms.com/about|access-date=2020-10-20|website=Nishtha Jain|language=en|archive-date=22 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201022013949/https://www.nishthajainfilms.com/about|url-status=dead}}