Pallavi Somusetty (she/her/hers) is a filmmaker residing on Ohlone land (Oakland, CA) who creates doc portraits that center BIPOC voices in the hope that we feel fully seen in the complexities of our identities and journeys, and that meaningful impact can result. Since 2020, she has been a series producer for A-Doc (including Emmy-nominated series Asian American Stories of Resilience and Beyond) and is a supervising producer for their 2024 shorts initiative in partnership with WORLD Channel. Pallavi's feature directorial debut in progress, COACH EMILY, is a 2023 DocLands DocPitch Industry Award recipient, and Athena’s 2022 Works in Progress Pitch Forum participant. Pallavi is also directing WELCOME HOME JHAIJI about 'aunties' of color stepping into their power. She is a 2023 Bitchitra Fellowship Mentor, a 2023 Unlock Her Potential Mentee working with Linda Goldstein Knowlton, a 2022 Kearny Street Workshop APAture Featured Film Artist, and a 2022 Center for Asian American Media Fellow with mentorship support from Marjan Safinia.

 

Her award-winning short doc, Escaping Agra, which chronicles a young trans Indian American teen’s experience of being illegally detained in Agra, India after their gender and sexual orientation are discovered, has screened in festivals across the world, and her work has been supported by The Puffin Foundation, Eddie Bauer, Studio IX Project, Center for Cultural Innovation, and more. Pallavi holds a documentary-focused Master in Journalism from UC Berkeley and a BA in Creative Writing from UC Santa Cruz. In her spare time, she climbs rocks with her kids and supports incarcerated pregnant people as a trained doula.