Transitions Film Festival 2016

International filmmaker Shalini Kantayya (USA) will open the 5th annual Transitions Film Festival - to be held in Melbourne at Cinema Nova from February 18 to March 3 - with the Australian Premiere of her feature documentary Catching the Sun.

Shalini Kantayya finished in the top 10 out of 12,000 filmmakers on Fox's ON THE LOT, a show by Steven Spielberg in search of Hollywood's next great director.

Her sci-fi film about the world water crisis, A DROP OF LIFE, won Best Short at Palm Beach International, and was broadcast on national television in the U.S. and India.

She is a Sundance Fellow, a TED Fellow, and was a finalist for the ABC Disney | DGA Directing Fellowship.

The mission of her production company, 7th Empire Media, is to create a culture of human rights and a sustainable planet through imaginative media that makes real impact.

Catching the Sun follows the hope and heartbreak of unemployed American workers seeking jobs in the solar industry.