Assistant Professor, Film & Media Studies
School of Humanities

Screenwriting, Directing the Actor, Cinematography, Editing, Film Aesthetics, Genre Theory and Practice, Political Economy of Film & Media, Indian Cinema, Asian American Cinema, South Asian Studies, New Wave Cinemas, Hybrid/Doc Production, New Media

prshnth.com

Prashanth Kamalakanthan was born in Tirupati, India, and raised in North Carolina. He has been named Filmmaker of the Year at Duke University, a Gotham Marcie Bloom Fellow in Film, and as one of the “25 New Faces of Film” by Filmmaker Magazine. Prashanth is an Assistant Professor of Film & Media Studies at the University of California, Irvine, and has taught previously at Brown University, Virginia Commonwealth University, and NYU’s Tisch Graduate Film. His award-winning short films have exhibited worldwide and are featured in The New York Times, Mother Jones, and The Nation. His debut feature, Have a Nice Life (2021), distributed by The Film Desk, was followed by New Strains (2023), which won a Tiger Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam and is distributed by MEMORY; and Removal of the Eye (2024), Special Jury Award at New Orleans Film Festival.

Selected Filmography:
Removal of the Eye (Feature Film, 2024)
Co-Writer/Director, Editor, D.P.
• Special Jury Award, New Orleans Film Festival
• Official Selection, New/Next Film Festival
• Official Selection, International Film Festival Rotterdam
• Official Selection, Atlanta Film Festival
• Official Selection, New Horizons Film Festival
• Official Selection, Oak Cliff Film Festival
• Official Selection, Las Cruces Film Festival

New Strains (Feature Film, 2023)
Co-Writer/Director, Editor, D.P.
• Special Jury Award, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Tiger Competition
• Best Narrative Feature, Honorable Mention, Tasveer Film Festival
• Official Selection, First Look Showcase, Museum of the Moving Image
• Official Selection, SXSW Sydney
• Official Selection, Los Angeles Festival of Movies
• Official Selection, Buffalo International Film Festival
• Official Selection, Underdox International Film Festival
• Official Selection, New Hampshire Film Festival
• Official Selection, San Diego Asian Film Festival
• Official Selection, American Film Festival Moscow
• Official Selection, Tribeca Creators Market
• Exhibited at the VCU Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA)
• Distributed by MEMORY
• Featured on Metrograph @ Home

Have a Nice Life (Feature Film, 2021)
Writer, Director, Editor
• Programmer’s Choice Award, Bushwick Film Festival
• Official Selection, New Orleans Film Festival
• Official Selection, Maryland Film Festival
• Official Selection, American Film Festival
• Official Selection, Bentonville Film Festival
• Official Selection, Cucalorus Film Festival
• Official Selection, SF IndieFest
• Orka Post-Production Award Winner, US in Progress
• Recipient, Cinema Conservancy Feature Film Grant
• Fiscal Sponsorship, Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP)
• Distributed by The Film Desk

Happy Thanksgiving (Short Film by Ishkwaazhe Shane McSauby, 2023)
Director of Photography
• Official Selection, American Indian Film Festival
• Official Selection, Annapolis Film Festival
• Official Selection, Aspen Shortsfest
• Official Selection, Atlanta Film Festival
• Official Selection, Bend Film Festival
• Official Selection, BlackStar Film Festival
• Official Selection, Brooklyn Film Festival
• Official Selection, Calgary International Film Festival
• Official Selection, Grand Rapids Film Festival
• Official Selection, Maoriland Film Festival
• Official Selection, Nashville Film Festival
• Official Selection, Palm Springs International Shortsfest
• Official Selection, Portland Film Festival
• Official Selection, Santa Fe International Film Festival
• Official Selection, Woodstock Film Festival
• Exhibited at the Queens Museum, New York

A Hand (Short Film, 2018)
Writer, Director, Editor
• Winner, Best Short Comedy, New Hampshire Film Festival
• Official Selection, Cucalorus Film Festival
• Featured on NoBudge

Houseplants (Short Film, 2017)
Writer, Director, Editor
• Winner, Best Short Drama, New Hampshire Film Festival
• Winner, Best Editing, First Run Film Festival
• Official Selection, Sarasota Film Festival
• Official Selection, Cucalorus Film Festival
• Featured on NoBudge

If There Is Light (Short Film by Haley Anderson, 2019)
Editor
• World Premiere, Tribeca Film Festival
• Queen Latifah x Queen Collective collaboration supported by Procter & Gamble and Tribeca Film Institute
• Distributed by Hulu and BET

Rejectors (Short Film by Lindsey Eve Van Dyke, 2019)
Editor
• Collaboration with Academy Award-nominated director Richard Rowley and Modest Mouse’s Joe Plummer
• Official Selection, HollyShorts Film Festival
• Official Selection, Lighthouse International Film Festival
• Official Selection, Oaxaca Film Festival
• Official Selection, Portland Film Festival

Melt (Short Film by Moxie Peng, 2019)
Director of Photography
• Craft Award, First Run Film Festival
• Official Selection, NewFest

Safari Video (Short Documentary by Artemis Shaw, 2019)
Director of Photography, Editor
• World Premiere, Maryland International Film Festival
• Featured on NoBudge

Mother Tongue (Short Film by Eris Qian, 2019)
Director of Photography
• Official Selection, Asian Film Festival of LA
• Official Selection, BronzeLens Film Festival
• Official Selection, CAAMFest
• Official Selection, DC Asian Pacific Film Festival
• Official Selection, Diaspora Film Festival, Incheon
• Official Selection, New York Asian Film Festival
• Official Selection, St. John’s International Film Festival
• Official Selection, Silicon Valley Asian Pacific Filmfest
• Exhibited at UNC Chapel Hill and Columbia University School of Social Work

Iowa (Short Film by Carlos Dengler, 2019)
Cinematographer
• Official Selection, Los Angeles International Short Film Festival
• Official Selection, Indie Short Fest

Dominant Species (Short Film by Joseph Sackett, 2018)
Editor
• World Premiere, Slamdance Film Festival
• Official Selection, Atlanta Film Festival
• Official Selection, Festival Les Intergalactiques
• Official Selection, Florida Film Festival
• Official Selection, Lower East Side Film Festival
• Official Selection, New Orleans Film Festival
• Official Selection, Oslo Short Film Festival
• Official Selection, Outfest Los Angeles
• Featured on Vimeo Staff Picks

A Celebration (Short Film by Anna Alekhina, 2017)
Director of Photography
• Official Selection, First Run Film Festival
• Featured on NoBudge

Link to this profile
https://faculty.uci.edu/profile/?facultyId=7313

Last updated
07/07/2025