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Ritu Singh Pande hails from Bihar, India, where her rebellious nature put the sexist cultural norms of her environment into stark focus. Her unconventional experiences as a social activist, military cadet, as well as a finalist in the Miss India contest, enabled her to explore various facets of feminism, female and human identity. She left her burgeoning acting career in Mumbai to pursue acting and filmmaking in New York, studying under veterans such as Austin Pendelton, Anthony Abeson, and Terry Schreiber. Ironically, rather than finding freedom in New York to explore her passions, Ritu found herself more pigeonholed as a minority woman.

Energized by this challenge, and struck by the extent of dilution that plagues foreign perspectives, Ritu has developed and produced films that transcend the industry stereotypes in favor of more complex and universal stories, especially about women. In 2010, she led the production of her most personal film FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS, a profound human story about lost love, lost parents and lost home because of forced migrations. The film was a spiritual and personal breakthrough in Ritu's life. Since then, she has produced festival hits such as MAY IN THE SUMMER, CAR DOGS and A WOMAN A PART that are a celebration of human complexity. In 2018, Ritu wrote and directed her first short film, TURNED OUT, as an unpacking of complex feminist ideas set in the backdrop of the sex trafficking industry. She aims to ultimately produce TURNED OUT into a feature length film.

BORROWED PLUMES, her second short film, acted, directed and written by her, explores the feelings of an individual robbed of self pride and worth by the subtle influences of a society that exerts greater pressures to conform and lose our identity than we often realize, or are willing to admit. Ritu's experiences as a filmmaker, actor, humanitarian, mother, Indian woman and an immigrant, have inspired a journey of exploration into the complexities of human identity through art, performance, writing and cinema.

Ritu Singh Pande at an event for May in the Summer (2013)

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