In his brief career as a filmmaker, Sharat Raju has already earned a reputation for creating unique films that have explored the intersections of race, identity, spirituality, and violence. His first two films have confronted divisions in post-9/11 America through accessible characters and personal stories.

Raju graduated in 2003 from the American Film Institute with an MFA in Directing. His thesis short film American Made earned both of the top two awards from AFI before winning a total of seventeen awards at nearly forty international film festivals – including Tribeca Film Festival, Aspen Shortsfest, and an award for Excellence in Short Filmmaking from BAFTA. American Made is currently broadcast on the PBS program Independent Lens through 2010.

Raju’s follow-up feature documentary Divided We Fall follows a college student’s journey across the country with only a video camera soon after Sept. 11, 2001, as she documented race-related violence against the Sikh, Muslim, and South Asian American communities. Recipient of the New Filmmakers’ Grant from Panavision and a sizable film donation by Eastman Kodak, DWF premiered in September 2006. Widespread demand for the documentary sent Raju onto a packed international tour at festivals, colleges, and universities, along with a unique dialogue forum that gives people an opportunity to share their own stories of pain and healing in the days, months, and years after 9/11.

In early 2008, Raju took his filmmaking skills to the impoverished corners of India, working with Adobe and the American India Foundation to train school children in filmmaking and visual storytelling through the Adobe Youth Voices initiative as a way of self-empowerment advancement.

Raju is a graduate of the University of Michigan and is currently a Directing Fellow at the ABC Network.