Board Of Directors

Born in India and educated at both Delhi University and Harvard, prolific filmmaker and activist Mira Nair divides her energies between filmmaking and her two successful non-profit organizations, Maisha and the Salaam Baalak Trust. In 1988, using the profits of her successful debut feature Salaam Bombay!, Nair established the Salaam Baalak Trust. Twenty years after its inception, the Salaam Baalak Trust has helped to provide a safe and nurturing environment for 5000 street children annually, and has directly impacted government policy on street children in India.

In 2005, Nair went on to found Maisha, a filmmakers’ training program based in East Africa. In its five years of operation, Maisha has trained hundreds of students from Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania in screenwriting, directing, producing, acting, sound design, editing, and cinematography.

Nair lives in New York City and Kampala, Uganda with her husband and son, and is currently working on her forthcoming feature, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, an adaptation of Mohsin Hamid’s bestselling novel, and the Broadway musical adaptation of Monsoon Wedding.

Mahmood is on Maisha’s Uganda Board of Directors. Mahmood Mamdani is the Herbert Lehman Professor of Government. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1974 and specializes in the study of African history and politics. His works explore the intersection between politics and culture, a comparative study of colonialism since 1452, the history of civil war and genocide in Africa, the Cold War and the War on Terror, and the history and theory of human rights.

Prior to joining the Columbia faculty, Mamdani was a professor at the University of Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania (1973-79), Makerere University in Uganda (1980-1993), and the University of Cape Town (1996-1999). He has received numerous awards and recognitions, including being listed as one of the “Top 20 Public Intellectuals” by Foreign Policy (US) and Prospect (UK) magazine in 2008.

From 1998 to 2002 he served as President of CODESRIA (Council for the Development of Social Research in Africa). His essays have appeared in the New Left Review and the London Review of books, among other journals. He teaches courses on: major debates in the study of Africa; the modern state and the colonial subject; the Cold War and the Third World; the theory, history, and practice of human rights; and civil wars and the state in Africa.

Sabrina Dhawan is the England-born Indian screenwriter who first gained mainstream attention as a writer for the 2001 critically-acclaimed film, Monsoon Wedding (dir: Mira Nair), and the 2003 cross-cultural romance film, Cosmpolitan (dir: Nisha Ganatra).

Dhawan was awarded the Audience Award at the Angelus Awards in 2001 and “Best of the Festival” at the 2000 Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films for her film, “Saanjh”.

Dhawan is currently a professor at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts’ Department of Dramatic Writing, and resides in New York with her husband, Steve Cohen, and their son, Kabir.

After receiving a MFA at NYU Film School in 1983, Pilcher began her career making documentaries and working in the production department of feature films including: After Hours (dir: Martin Scorsese); F/X (dir: Robert Mandel); Round Midnight (dir: Bertrand Tavernier); Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (dir: John Hughes); Mississippi Burning (dir: Alan Parker); and Quiz Show (dir: Robert Redford). In 2002, Pilcher founded Cine Mosaic, a New York-based production company committed to producing entertaining and culturally diverse feature films for theatrical release and for television.

Pilcher recently produced Amelia, starring Hilary Swank as the famous aviatrix, Amelia Earhart (dir: Mira Nair); The Darjeeling Limited (dir: by Wes Anderson); and The Namesake (dir: Mira Nair), based on the novel by Jhumpa Lahiri.

In addition to her producing credits, Pilcher has served two terms as Vice Chair of the Producers Guild of America East and currently serves on the Board of Directors of The New York Production Alliance. She was named one of the 21 Leaders for the 21st Century by Women’s eNews for 2005.