Biography

Savita Singh is an Indian cinematographer and filmmaker who is known for directing a short film Sonsi (Shadow Bird) in 2020, that entered the Oscars.Savita predominantly works in feature films, ad films, and documentaries. Some of the films shot by her include Phoonk (2008), 404: Error Not Found (2011), Hawaizaada (2015), Ventilator (2016), and Devi (2020). Poster of the movie 404 Error Not Found.She was the first female to graduate from her village. While she was studying mass communication, she did an internship with a newspaper called The Statesman where she used to write film reviews.In an interview, she said that when she was a child, she used to watch Doordarshan and read a lot of books. She further added, It may sound a little pretentious to say this now, but the truth is I liked parallel cinema more even as a child. I was in awe of movies by Satyajit Ray and Mrinal Sen and would walk away if there was anything typically commercial. I just had this liking for a particular space, rhythm and storytelling..In 2007, she shot the film Kramasha for the thesis that she had to present in the FTTI. She became the first Indian woman to receive a National Award for Best Cinematography in 2009. In 2008, her film, Kramasha, won the critics award at the Oberhausen Film Festival and a golden conch for best film at the Mumbai International Film Festival.After she graduated from the FTTI, she was invited to the Budapest Cinematography Master class under which she got a chance to learn from the famous cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond.She found the Indian Women Cinematographers Collective in 2015. The organisation raised issues faced by female cinematographers. In an interview, she talked about the organisation and said, The idea behind IWCC is not to isolate women from the male cinematographers or to show we can do it better than men. Its about drawing attention to our underexposed, neglected group of professionals known as female cinematographers. We want to provide a platform for all women cinematographers to come forward and make themselves heard. Logo of Indian Women Cinematographers Collective.In 2017, she was invited to the Association of French Cinematographers (AFC) to represent the Indian cinematographers association in Paris.In 2020, she won the second national award and in an interview, she dedicated the award to her parents and said, Winning my second National Film Award and a Rajat Kamal for Best Cinematography is such an incredible honor and moment of pride for me. I am full of gratitude that my first film as a director Sonsi my little bird gave us a National Award. This feeling will take a while to sink in. This award belongs to my incredibly progressive and nurturing parents who gave me wings and showed me how to dream.In an interview, Savita revealed that the name of her film Sonsi was from the Hindi book Deewar Mein Ek Khidki Rehti Thi written by litterateur Vinod Kumar Shukla in 1999.