ORANGE KITE PRODUCTIONS IS AN AWARD-WINNING INDEPENDENTLY OWNED
AND OPERATED FILM COMPANY WHICH PROMOTES FEMINISTIC,
HUMANISTIC, FORWARD-THINKING FILMS.
Being Michelle
BEING MICHELLE is an award-winning feature-length documentary film about a deaf woman with autism who survived incarceration and abuse
and now uses her artwork to depict the trauma she survived and heal from her past. Visit the BEING MICHELLE
website & signup for the newsletter!
BEING MICHELLE is a fiscally sponsored project of Thriving Roots Initiative (TRI),
a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Contributions on behalf of BEING MICHELLE are payable to (TRI) and are tax deductible.
www.thrivingrootsinitiative.org
A SHORT DOCUMENTARY
Soul Strings
Soul Strings is a short film which takes a glimpse into the life of Narayan Bhopa, a priest-singer of folk deities in Rajasthan, India.
He is the last in his family to carry on the dying tradition, playing the Ravanahatha, one of the oldest string instruments in world history.
About
Atin Mehra
Award-winning filmmaker Atin Mehra was born and raised in Varanasi, India and currently resides with his family in Los Angeles, CA. In 1999 Atin picked up his first camera and began taking photographs. Atin’s uncanny ability to connect with individuals from behind the lens eventually led him into filmmaking. His own struggles with abuse and discrimination in India drew him to stories of marginalized individuals and communities. Atin lived and worked in India until 2005, when he moved to the US with his wife and filmmaking partner, Mae Thornton Mehra. They have been producing social justice and impact driven films together for over 15 years at Orange Kite Productions. BEING MICHELLE (2022) is Atin’s directorial debut for which he is a 2022 Firelight Media Impact Campaign Fund & International Documentary Association Nonfiction Access Initiative Grantee.
Mae Thornton Mehra
Mae Thornton Mehra has been producing social justice and impact driven films with her husband and filmmaker, Atin Mehra at Orange Kite Productions for over 15 years. She prides herself on openly creative collaborations between film participants and diverse production teams as she believes that impact begins within the filmmaking process itself. In 2020, Mae and Atin co-founded the nonprofit Thriving Roots Initiative to further their work of social impact documentary filmmaking. Mae is Producer on BEING MICHELLE (2022), a documentary film that is helping to change the way Deaf and Disabled people are treated in criminal justice systems in the US and globally.
