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Ashish Dawar grew up in various parts of India. Traveling within a diverse landscape of cultures influenced his fervor for story and imagery. He began to document them with a 35mm Olympus still camera. Initially, photography & crafting documentary films shaped his layered approach to story & narration. How do you tactile the intangible? the unseen? the smells? a rhythm? a complex emotion? What is the relationship between matter and energy? He began to seek answers through the medium of visual arts.

Gradually he moved to scripted content. Over last 10 years he has shot narrative features, documentaries, shorts, music videos, commercials, promos, multi-cam live events and web films. He holds a MFA (cinematography) from AFI (American Film Institute) & currently he is a cinematographer based in Los Angeles. In 2019, he was selected for the prestigious BAFTA Talents program, a talent initiative that recognises and supports international rising stars to further their development and career.

The first narrative feature he shot, UNDER THE SAME SUN (2011), had a world premier at the Mill Valley Film Festival 2015 in San Francisco & won the Audience Choice Award, Silver. At the Sedona International Film Festival 2017, it won a double – Best Foreign Film & Best Humanitarian Film Award. At the Conorado Island Film Festival 2017, it won the The Dale St. Denis Best Woman Filmmaker Award. Subsequently, Ashish had the opportunity to shoot a language feature, KANDATHAI SOLLUGIREN (2015) & a documentary feature JHATKA (2014) for National Award winning director, B. Lenin. Recently he lensed a short narrative GOLD FORTUNE, that won the Best Film at the New Era Festival, Beijing & Amsterdam IFF. It has received nominations and official selections at several festivals including Oscar qualifying LAshortsfest.