Meenakshi Shedde: Curriculum Vitae

Name: Meenakshi Shedde

Email: meenakshishedde@gmail.com

Education:
Bachelor of Arts (Economics), St Xavier’s College, Bombay, 1982
Diploma in Journalism, K C College, Bombay, 1983

Professional Experience (Print Medium):
I have 24 years’ experience in journalism, including 11 years with the Times of India group. My core competencies are editing and writing (features and editorials), particularly on arts and entertainment, and gender and developmental issues; multimedia experience (film, TV, radio, websites) and an evolved visual sensibility.
* July 2005-April 2007: Senior Assistant Editor (Editorial Page, Arts and Culture), DNA—Daily News and Analysis, the national daily published from Bombay (circulation 4,00,000). I edited the editorial page and wrote editorials every week. I also headed the arts department (art, film, music, theatre, dance), edited the weekly Arts page, and wrote features on cinema and the arts.
* 2004-2005: Freelanced for media worldwide, including Cahiers du Cinema (France), Sight and Sound (UK), Film Comment and India Abroad (US), The Times of India, Indian Express, Outlook, Hindu, Cinemaya, indiatimes.com and rediffmail.com.
* 1997-2004: Assistant Editor, The Times of India, Bombay. My responsibilities included editing the editorial page, and writing editorials, features and film reviews.
* 1995-1996: Participated in ‘Journalistes en Europe,’ an eight-month international journalism programme based in Paris, and filed wide-ranging reports from eight nations. * 1990-1996: Features Editor, Bombay Times, part of The Times of India. I edited the features pages, including political, civic, social, gender issues, arts and entertainment; Features Editor (Arts), The Independent (Times of India group).
*1983-1990: Assistant Editor, The Free Press Journal; Magazine Editor, Mid-day; Assistant Managing Editor, The Indian Auto Journal; Assistant Editor, Gentleman magazine; Correspondent, Bombay magazine; Feature writer, Sol Features.

International Experience:
* October 95 - May 96: Won a French External Affairs Ministry scholarship to participate in ‘Journalistes en Europe,’ an international journalism programme based in Paris, conducted in French. I filed articles on political and economic issues, international relations, human rights, social and religious issues, urban development and the arts from Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Greece, Ireland and Cyprus for The New York Times Syndicate, Europ, a quarterly published in Paris, and The Times of India.
* Won a Goethe Institut scholarship to study German, Mannheim, 1994.
* Covered international film festivals for over a decade, including those in Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Toronto, Paris, Argentina, Pusan, Mannheim-Heidelberg, Oberhausen (Germany), Vila do Conde (Portugal), New Delhi and Thiruvananthapuram.
* Wrote for two books--on Indian cinema for Au Sud du Cinema (Cahiers du Cinema/Arte) and on Bollywood for Bollywood: Das Indische Kino und die Schweiz (Museum fur Gestaltung, Switzerland).

Film Experience--Award, Juries, Films:
* Won the National Award for Best Film Critic and was presented the Swarna Kamal (Golden Lotus Award) by the President of India, 1998.
* Was on the FIPRESCI International Critics’ Jury of the Cannes Film Festival (2001), Berlin Film Festival (2000) and Venice Film Festival (2002). I was on the International Jury of the Mar del Plata International Film Festival, Argentina (2006); Asian Film Award Jury, Hong Kong Film Festival (2007); and the National Jury for the Indian Panorama of the International Film Festival of India, Goa (2004).
* Directed a short film Looking for Amitabh, shown at the Kala Ghoda Festival (Bombay, 2003), Commonwealth Film Festival (Manchester), Pusan Film Festival (S. Korea), River to River Film Festival (Florence, Italy) and Film South Asia (Nepal). Amitabh Bachchan’s blind fans describe their perceptions of the Bollywood star, evoking him through various senses, except vision—hearing, smell, touch, instinct.
* Have line-produced five international documentaries shot in India.

Experience with Gender and Developmental Issues:
* Am on the board of directors of Point of View (POV), a non-profit organisation (http://www.pointofview.org/) that promotes the viewpoints of women through films, books, theatre and photography. For POV:
--Wrote for a book And Who Will Make the Chapatis?, a study of the political empowerment of elected women panchayat leaders in rural Maharashtra (1998).
--Did the visual research for a photography exhibition In Black and White, exploring what independence means to Indian women, Indo-US tour (1997).
--Curated Made By Women: the International Women’s Film Festival (2004, 2005).
* Freelance writing for 15 years on developmental issues for Unesco and the Family Planning Association of India; research papers on HIV for UNDP (Senegal) and Sangram (Sangli), and others.

Multimedia experience:
* Professor of Journalism at the Xavier Institute of Communications, Bombay (1992-98).
* Assistant Director with United Television (UTV), 1992-93; freelanced for Channel 4.
* Have done programmes on All India Radio, BBC Radio and Radio France.
* Have contributed to websites in UK, Australia and India.
* Trasparenza, solo exhibition of photographs of Venice, at Olive, Festa Italiana, Bombay, 2003. Altogether, I have experience working with multiple media--print journalism, television, radio, filmmaking, photography, books and websites.
Languages Spoken: English, Hindi, Marathi, Konkani, French (fluent), German and Italian (street-hustle grade, but more importantly, enough to sing love songs!).