About
Anjali was named one of the top 40 filmmakers under 40 by DOCNYC and is a member of the Directors Guild of America (including the WSC’s 2023/2024 Squad), Directors Guild of Canada (and its Doc Advisory Council) and the Writers Guild of Canada.
Anjali just wrapped Hack Your Health (2024), a Netflix Original film about the science of eating with Tremolo Productions and is currently developing a series with the Golden State Warriors. Her docuseries about artificial intelligence for Amazon Web Services (Future Self) was an official selection of the 2023 Tribeca X-Prize. Also, Anjali’s fantasy film Closer (2021) won the audience award at the 2022 Prism Prize (Canada’s top music video awards) and now has over five million views.
In the scripted space, Anjali is currently in development on a feature-length South Asian sci-fi, a short road trip movie and a short true crime horror.
In the commercial space, Anjali has directed spots for Amazon, Chipotle, Goldman Sachs, Southern Company, ACER computers, Patagonia, the Mountain Equipment Co-Op and the San Diego Zoo, including several FPV drone spots.
Anjali's previous feature Silas (2017), profiled a network of citizen reporters, using smart phones to expose land grabs and corruption, exposing multiple international corporations and the Nobel Prize-winning president of Liberia. The film premiered at TIFF in September 2017, played in almost 100 film festivals and won numerous awards around the world, including a Director’s Guild of Canada Award. The film was acquired by Amazon.
Anjali’s short film, Escape (2018), captured the 17,000 km journey of a Rwandan-Canadian DJ on a fixed-gear bike ride across Canada and to the Arctic. The film won numerous awards worldwide, and was nominated for Best Short Film from the Director’s Guild of Canada and was made a Vimeo Staff Pick.
Anjali's feature directorial debut Gun Runners (2016), about two Kenyan warriors who trade in their AK-47s for the dream of marathon running, premiered at the Hot Docs Film Festival and was acquired by Netflix. The film was nominated for both a Canadian Screen Award and Director's Guild of Canada award for Best Documentary.
Beyond film, Anjali founded TIMBY (This Is My Backyard), a suite of encrypted tools used by communities, NGOs and workers living or working on the frontlines of big business, to document and share issues related to human and environmental rights. TIMBY — which is featured in the Silas film — operates in 26 languages and in 50 countries around the word. Investment banks, corporates and certifications schemes are using TIMBY to monitor modern slavery and clean up their supply chains. Clients include the United Nations, Chemonics, national governments, the World Bank, Oxfam, Ralph Lauren, The Very Group, Transparency International, WWF, Friends of the Earth and dozens of organizations and indigenous communities around the world.
Anjali sits on several advisory committees, including the Environment and Human Rights Division of Human Rights Watch and the Documentary Branch of the Director’s Guild of Canada. Anjali is an Associate Professor at Cornell University and lectures in film, technology, environmental justice, global health and journalism, with an emphasis on representation and democratizing narratives.
Before film, Anjali was a foreign correspondent based in Nairobi, and reported extensively across Africa and Asia for 10 years for Nature Magazine, Reuters, the CBC, France 24 and the BBC.
Anjali has a Masters from Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism, a Masters in Environmental Change and Management from the University of Oxford and a Graduate degree in Space Science from the International Space University. She's a Fulbright Scholar, a Commonwealth Scholar, a Governor General Bronze Medal Winner, a capoeirista, a former national-level and college soccer player and a surfer.
For TIMBY, please contact infoATtimby.org
For film inquires (branded, commercial, scripted, documentary, press) please drop Anjali a line below: