SPARSH AHUJA
Sparsh Ahuja is an award-winning filmmaker and National Geographic Explorer working primarily in animation and documentary. His work explores themes of migration and belonging, and has featured in MUBI, The New Yorker, TIME, The BBC, Al Jazeera, NOWNESS ASIA, NOEMA and The Economist.
Sparsh’s documentary short, “Birdsong”, premiered at SXSW 2023, was shortlisted for the Grierson, IDA and BIFA Awards, and was acquired by The Guardian as a Vimeo Staff Pick. His VR Film, “Child of Empire” - financed through the Venice Biennale Gap Financing Market - premiered at the Sundance Film Festival 2022, played Sheffield DocFest, and MIFF, and won the inaugural XR History Award from the Korber-Stiftung Foundation in Hamburg. Sparsh is currently in development on his directorial debut, “Fear and Loathing in Kathmandu”, funded by VicScreen.
In 2023, Sparsh was one of the 12 factual producers selected for VicScreen and Screen Australia’s “Originate Factual” incubator. In 2024, his reporting on Indigenous land rights disputes was a finalist for the LA Press Club Award.
Sparsh’s work has toured institutions such as The Victoria and Albert Museum, BFI Southbank, and ForumDesImages in Paris, and has been supported by the British Council, Australia Council for the Arts, Doc Society, Ford Foundation, Ian Potter Cultural Trust, and the CatchLight Fellowship amongst others.
Sparsh currently works as a Development Producer for Dreamchaser Entertainment in Melbourne, Australia.
Read More
Case Studies
Instagram
sparshahuja9@gmail.com
BACK
Fellowships/Grants/Awards
VicScreen, “Originate Factual” - Grantee/Participant, 2023
Ian Potter Centre – Emerging Australian Artist, Multimedia Grant, 2023
Australian International Documentary Conference, “Leading Lights” Recipient, 2023
European Union Culture in External Relations/Goethe Institut - GCRP Project Grantee, Imagining Peace, 2022
UK Research Institute/Arts and Humanities Research Council - Child of Empire Tour - with SOAS, 2022
Unity for Humanity - Accessibility Stipend, Child of Empire at Sundance, 2022
World Congress of Factual and Science Producers- Emerging Producer Bursary, 2021
Webby Awards - “Best VR Video” Nominee, 2020
Arts Council England/Digital Catapult/StoryFutures Academy - Creative XR Cohort III, 2020
British Film Institute/Doc Society - Made of Truth Short Grant, 2020
British Council - Digital Collaborations Grant, 2020
National Geographic - Early Career Exploration Grantee (Storytelling), 2020
CatchLight - Artist Fellowship, 2019
Alexia Foundation - Student Grant Shortlist, 2019
Lucie Foundation - Emerging Artist Shortlist, 2019
In the Media
VicScreen - ORIGINATE FACTUAL PROPELS HOMEGROWN TALENT ONTO THE WORLD STAGE OF PREMIUM SERIES, Oct 2023
IF Magazine - VicScreen announces 12 creatives selected for Originate Factual, Oct 2023
The New Yorker - Seventy-five Years After Indian Partition, Who Owns the Narrative?, Dec 2022
The BBC - My journey to the ‘place no-one spoke of’, Aug 2022
National Geographic - 75 years later, survivors of India’s violent partition return home—virtually, Aug 2022
The Economist - A virtual-reality film revisits the partition of British India, Feb 2022
The Hindu - Flashback 75: Partition in virtual reality in Child of Empire, Jan 2022
No Proscenium - Review, Child of Empire, Sundance New Frontier Diares, Jan 2022
The BBC - VR helps Indians and Pakistanis visit their lost homes, Aug 2021
The Quint - Taking India-Pakistan Partition Witnesses Back Home Through VR, Aug 2021
TIME - How a Refugee Revisited His Birth Village During the Pandemic—After 73 Years Away, Dec 2020
Reuters - Far from home, refugees build digital heritage with virtual reality, Sep 2020
Scroll - After seven decades, the children of Partition are going back home through virtual reality, Aug 2020
Nikkei - Virtual reality reconnects casualties of Partition with ancestral homes, Jan 2020
Dawn - Project Dastaan takes partition witnesses back home, Aug 2019
Elle - The initiative reconnecting survivors of Partition with the homes they left behind, Dec 2018
Herald Sun - VCE Leadership Awards sees Sparsh Ahuja committed to empowering others to engage in world issue, Nov 2015
Also Featured In:
The Juggernaut
The Daily Star
Arab News
The Asian Age
Firstpost
The Eastern Eye
Mashable
Mumbai Mid-Day
Talks
World Archaeology Summit, AlUla Saudi Arabia, “Saving Archeology One TikTok at a Time”, Sep 2023
Unity for Humanity x Sundance Film Festival - Changing the World with Immersive Storytelling, Jan 2022
Syracuse University x Sundance Film Festival, Virtual Narratives: Evolving Storytelling Through Gaming Platforms, Jan 2022
Double Exposure Symposium x MIT Media Lab- Making the Metaverse, Dec 2021
Geneva Peace Week x Rotary Action Group for Peace Incubator, 2020
TedXIGDTU - Crossing Borders with Technology, 2020
YOUNGA - VR Takeover of the UN General Assembly, 2020