Shonali Bose was born in 1965 and grew up in Calcutta, Bombay and Delhi. She has been an activist since her student days at Miranda House College, Delhi University (BA History Honours) and Columbia University, New York (MA Political Science). Bose was also passionately involved in theater as an actor throughout school and college.
Shonali worked for a year as an organizer at the National Lawyer’s Guild, and directed live community television in Manhattan before embarking on the MFA Directing Program at UCLA's School of Theatre, Film, and Television. Her short narrative films (The Gendarme Is Here and Undocumented) and her feature-length documentary (Lifting the Veil) have screened in festivals and other venues throughout the world. As a student at UCLA she received a number of awards: Ely Award for Best Documentary (’97), Wasserman Award (’96), Jack Sauter Award (’95), Hollywood Radio and Television Society International Broadcasting Award (’95), Motion Picture Association of America Award (’94).
After graduating from UCLA Bose taught directing at the New York Film Academy and hosted and produced a monthly radio show about South Asia on KPFK. In 2003 she was selected to IFP West’s Project Involve.
Amu is her feature film debut and is written, produced and directed by her.  Amu released theatrically in India in January 2005 running to packed houses and receiving popular and critical acclaim. It then went on to premier at the Berlin and Toronto Film Festivals amongst many other international festivals. Bose has won 7 national and international awards for Amu including the FIPRESCI Critics Award and the National Award for Best Film and Best Director – India’s highest award given by the President of the country.
Bose was also asked by Penguin India to convert the Amu screenplay into a novel. She did this while she was editing the film.  Amu the film and Amu the novel released simultaneously in India on January 7, 2005 making Bose the first Indian to have a simultaneous release of a film and a book. Amu is releasing theatrically in Canada and the United States in January 2006.
Shonali is working on her next script – Chittagong: Strike One. She has already signed some A list Indian actors for it and is in dialog with producers. The film will be shot in winter 2007. It is the first of a trilogy and is a Hindi film based in India’s freedom struggle against British colonial rule. She currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two sons.

When did you first realize you wanted to make films?

Very late in life! I always wanted to be a teacher. I passionately loved history. And would have stayed in academics if i had remained for graduate studies in India. However I came to the US to Columbia University for a Ph.D. I felt completely alienated from the academics compared to Delhi University. They were only interested in "third world models" - not from a point of view of social change but studying these cultures in a kind of superior way. i quit after my masters. I had been an actor all my life and could have done theater on the side in India. but again being in America - I did not find those avenues. i worked part-time at a TV station where i got to direct some videos. this hooked me on to this visual medium which i wanted to use to express what I felt was happening in society around me. i was 24 at this time. I applied to film school and had i not got a scholarship and not been accepted I may not have become a film maker. but I did.

What inspires you as a filmmaker?

Life. Injustice. Oppression. Resistance. Hope. Courage. History. Social change.

What made you want to make a film on the 1984 Massacre of Sikhs in India?

In short: it was a watershed event in our history. it brought in state terrorism in Indian politics. No one has been punished till now inspire of he overwhelming evidence. It is an open wound for all of us. And state terrorism has continued precisely because the perpetrators in '84 got away.
Thus Bombay 92 Gujarat 2002 etc. I was in first year college in 1984 in Delhi. I worked in the relief camps. I can never forget the shock and the grief.

For those who don't really know about what happened in 84, could you please describe the events that led to the massacre?

Has there been justice for the victims? Have those guilty of organizing the mobs and providing the weapons been incarcerated?

What reparations have the victims of 84 received from the Indian government?

There was some compensation given and a larger amount given only last year after the latest nanavati commission. No rehabilitation was done. Even right
at the time relief work was done by citizens of Delhi and gurdwaras.

How has the journey of Amu changed you as a filmmaker?

It has given me the confidence and knowledge that I can make films and that this is what I am passionate about. It has made me wary about the incredible double speak that exists in the industry and the world. and that everyone is not like me who will go all out for a cause - that money motivates most people.
That it's not enough to just make a good film. One needs the money and the power for marketing it. Before I made Amu I believed that if I made a film that critics and audiences loved - then it would definitely get picked up by distributors. This is sadly not the case which has been the bitter learning experience of Amu.

How was Amu received in India?

Fabulously received. By every audience from Hyderabad and Bangalore to Bombay, Delhi and calcutta. houseful for months. Rave reviews. Entire film
industry loved it. many awards including national award from president. And the PM requested it be sent to his house. which it was!

What advice would you give someone wanting to pursue a career in filmmaking?

You need to be really really passionate about it because it is one of the hardest careers - emotionally and financially. You have to really stick with your principles and what you want to do because the industry - both in India and in Hollywood and elsewhere is only geared to money.

Finally, where can we find out more about Amu and your work?

www.amuthefilm.com

KidsChannel Editor, Jessi Thind is a private Tae Kwon Do instructor in Montreal and a freelance script consultant for a film and game consulting firm that helps writers, game designers and studio executives evaluate and shape their ideas. He also produces games including the latest and extremely popular, Tissok The Shoemaker, a widely played chocolate themed game for children. Play his games on KidsChannel.ca or to find out more visit
www.tissok.com