Creatives
Kum-Kum Bhavnani
Writer/Director/Producer
Distinguished Professor, University of California Santa Barbara
Kum-Kum Bhavnani is an internationally acclaimed filmmaker and scholar whose award-winning work weaves together powerful storytelling with a deep commitment to social justice. Her films—Nothing Like Chocolate, The Shape of Water, We Are Galapagos, You Think You Can’t Dance?, Lutah, and The Joy of Curiosity—are known for their layered exploration of inequality and their vision for a more just and sustainable world.
Through her production company, Mirror and Hammer Films, Kum-Kum blends documentary filmmaking with the insights of cultural studies, exploring the intersections of equity, diversity, and alternative forms of development. She hopes her films inspire reflection, provoke dialogue, and spark change.
In addition to her filmmaking, Kum-Kum is a research professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where her research and teaching are deeply engaged with global justice movements. She served as Chair and Vice Chair of the University of California Systemwide Faculty Senate (2018–2020), playing a key role in the UC’s model of shared governance. Her collaborative work spans artists, scholars, NGOs, activists, and policymakers alike.
Driven by curiosity, compassion, and a commitment to justice, Kum-Kum’s films invite us to imagine —and work towards — a better world.
Our Crew
Skye Borgman
Director of Photography
Skye Borgman is an award-winning cinematographer and director. She has collaborated on over 50 films, traveled to over 60 countries, and lived on three continents. She has filmed survivors, rock stars, prime ministers, environmentalists, Academy Award winners, Buddhist nuns, and anarchist chocolate makers, connecting with all types of personalities.
Skye spent 20 years as a director of photography prior to directing her feature documentary, Abducted in Plain Sight (Netflix). She has worked on an array of intimate, shocking, and immediate documentaries, including American Murder: Laci Peterson (Netflix), The Girl in the Picture (Netflix), Dead Asleep (Hulu), Unsolved Mysteries (Netflix), Trial by Media (Netflix), I Just Killed My Dad (Netflix), Sins of Our Mother (Netflix), The Truth About Jim (HBO Max), and Files of the Unexplained (Netflix). Skye has cemented herself in storytelling by leading with empathy, awareness, and sharp intellect.
Ashoke Ghosh
Sound Recordist
Ashoke Ghosh is a sound recordist who has worked in film, TV, and documentary sound for 20 years. After growing up in North West England, he spent three years in the north of Ireland and four years in Eritrea, before returning to his hometown of Bolton and embarking on a career in sound. Having worked on a wide range of film, drama and documentary projects, his passion stays rooted in helping to record and share the voices and stories that are often left unheard.
Jim Tonge
Digital Imaging Technician
Jim Tonge has pursued a varied career in film media, starting out as an editor and camera operator before moving into kids’ content, games, and eventually voice AI work. He spent ten years at the BBC and WarnerMedia, contributing to TV production, digital content, and emerging platforms.
Now based in Berlin, Jim is a Senior Product Manager focused on voice interfaces, AI, and the way language shapes experience. Having experienced a stutter until his late teens, he is always drawn to understanding how people communicate.
While Jim still dips into production when he can, he likes to get out from behind a computer screen in an office in order to sit behind one while filming on location.
Photo: Emile Holba
Arun Ghosh
Composer
Arun Ghosh is a clarinetist, composer, and bandleader whose 25-year career spans classical, jazz, South Asian, and electronic music traditions.
Classically trained but with an improviser’s ear and intuition, he later immersed himself in jazz, global music, and Manchester’s rave, spoken-word and hip-hop scenes. He is known for drawing together South Asian musical traditions with Jazz instrumentation, and for genres ranging from rock to ambient and folk.
A member of sitarist Anoushka Shankar’s ensemble, Arun has also collaborated with artists and luminaries including Nitin Sawhney, Talvin Singh, Jah Wobble, Amadou & Mariam, and Cerys Matthews. In addition to releasing five solo albums on camoci records, Arun has composed extensively for theatre and film. His compositions and richly textured soundscapes draw on multiple instruments and musical styles, bringing momentum, heart, and a meditative and spiritual quality to his work and collaborations.
Ryan Pettey
Story and Lead Editor
Ryan Pettey is a documentary filmmaker and editor with over 25 years of experience shaping character-driven, emotionally-resonant stories. He is the founder of Satellite Pictures, a Santa Barbara-based production company specializing in story-first commercial and theatrical content. A graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara (Film Studies, 2004),
Ryan directed and edited the feature documentaries After the Last Round (2009) and From the Dust (2012). His editorial and cinematographic work has contributed to award-winning films including Kum-Kum Bhavnani’s The Shape of Water (2006), which earned him the NAFDMA Insight Award for Story Editing, as well as Nothing Like Chocolate (2012), Lutah (2014), and John (2016), this last directed by Lara Firestone. Ryan’s work incorporates themes of science, spirituality, and identity.
Ngawang Lodup
Additional Music
Ngawang comes from a long line of well-known folk singers from the Amdo region of Tibet – a beautiful but harsh environment high on the north-eastern corner of the Tibetan Plateau known for fine horses, wild grasslands and nomadic culture. Escaping repression in Chinese occupied Tibet, Ngawang trekked 250 miles across the Himalayas over 18 days to Nepal before finally settling in the UK in 2004. He composes and plays traditional nomadic ballads and contemporary Tibetan folk songs which he performs on an electric Mandolin and a Dramnyen lute.
Tsewang Tenzin
Additional Camera
Hitesh Jain
Additional Camera
Jharana Malek
Additional Camera
Bryce Johnson
Associate Producer
Dharitha (Dee) Pathirana
Assistant Editor
Zakary Hori
Additional Editing
Maurice Salmin
Additional Editing
Erik Lohr
Sound Design and Sound Mix
David Jenkins
Colour Grading
Anna Zillman
Translation
Tenzin Paldon
Translation
Tenzin Paldon
Associate Producer
Sheena Malhotra
Associate Producer
Website Design and Development
Ocean o’ Graphics
Monica Pessino
Creative Director
Carlos Paz
Website Developer
Thanks to the John Templeton Foundation for its support
