Graduate Filmmaker Ritesh Batra Selected as Sundance Institute Storytelling Fellow

By Richard Pierce

      The Sundance Institute has announced that second-year graduate student Ritesh Batra has been selected as one of four 2009 Time Warner Storytelling Fellows.
       Batra is the writer/director of the feature film project The Story of Ram, which tells the tale of a chance encounter over the radio that leads to an extraordinary friendship between the prime minister of India and an ordinary tea vendor, and ends up transforming a nation.
       Born and raised in Mumbai, India, Batra is based in New York and is enrolled in the MBA/MFA dual degree program at the Tisch School of the Arts and Stern School of Business. In 2006, he was selected for the MAISHA Film Lab, and in 2007 completed the award-winning short film The Morning Ritual. Batra recently worked on a feature screenplay for director Santosh Sivan and was also selected as a Fellow for the upcoming 2009 June Directors Lab at Sundance.
       The Time Warner Storytelling Advancement Fund provides substantial support over four years to help fund the development of independent artists across Sundance Institute’s Feature Film and Theatre Programs. Time Warner Storytelling Fellows receive grants to enable them to focus specifically on the advancement of the narrative and voice in their projects. Fellows also receive guidance, residency support, mentoring, and professional development.