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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 his uncle’s 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 he medium of visual arts.

Gradually he moved to scripted content/ narrative work. Over last 10 years he has shot narrative features, 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. He recently got selected into the prestigious BAFTA Talents program.

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.

He is trained to shoot on film & is an early adopter of digital technology with advanced digital workflows. Traveling, observing & being curious; he is in a constant forage to lens stories that Entertain & Inspire.