About

Shilpa Mankikar is an American filmmaker from New York, New Jersey, and India. Shilpa's work combines a commercial sensibility with provocative content. She writes about rebellious youth, women, 2nd generation immigrants, progressive issues, and epic historical subjects. She is a graduate of the prestigious MFA Film Program at Columbia in New York, and Oberlin College. Shilpa currently makes music videos, branded content, feature films, and documentaries. She has been featured in The New York Times, Times of India, and NBC.

She was a Director at the 2015 ABC-Disney Talent Showcase. Her family comedy DIWAL'OWEEN has won 12 international awards including Best Family Series, Best Actor, and an Audience Award at international festivals from Bali to Baltimore. She directed Nora Awkwafina Lum's show TAWK with Lilly Superwoman Singh.
Her script LET’S MISBEHAVE was in the WGA East Showcase at the Gotham with the Kalakars, and won several Screenplay competitions from NYISA to the British Independent Film Festival. Five of her scripts have been finalists at the Sundance Screenwriters Lab. Shilpa's films have won the Planet Out 1st Prize at Sundance, the National Board of Review Award, and Best of Fest at international festivals including Palm Springs, Switzerland, and Shanghai.

She became a bridge between India and the US, shooting music and lifestyle content for NH7, MTV, and many brands including Bacardi and Royal Enfield. She filmed documentary content in the UK, Italy, and India, and in the US for Marshall Herskovitz’ QUARTERLIFE, Democracy Now, and Red Carpet TV. She has interviewed a broad range of influential people including former President Bill Clinton, actor Cameron Diaz, writer Maya Angelou, Fortune 100 CEO's, American veterans, and village street sweepers in India.

She has a background in Film Distribution, Business Development, and Marketing. In 2001, she was a Co-founder of 3rd I, a national film distribution network that hosts 106 South Asian diaspora filmmakers per year in the US. Shilpa formerly handled Programming and Outreach for the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival and Marketing for its affiliate CAAM (formerly NAATA) Distribution.

After 9/11, she was able to book a national PBS broadcast of anti-hate crimes documentaries. Subjects included South Asians in New York, Sikhs in early 1900's Oregon, Japanese American Internment, and Filipino American veterans. This slate also received a grant for free nation-wide distribution at high schools and libraries.
She also managed Acquisitions and Distribution for Hypnotic, Universal Pictures' Short Film & New Media Division. This included acquiring films at festivals, packaging films for internet and cable, testing early mobile short films, and developing business partnerships with Yahoo, Sundance, B4U, airlines, and ancillary platforms. Shilpa is a contributor to indieWIRE. Credits include Spike Lee's BAMBOOZLED, DESI: SOUTH ASIANS IN NEW YORK (WNET/Channel Thirteen), and the InDigEnt pilot SAM THE MAN (Dir. Gary Winick).