After producing the multi-award winning film Harveys Dream and Ilya Rozhkovs Dying to Live, Jainardhan Sathyan has several new projects in the works!
Producer Jainardhan Sathyan, who brought the films Harveys Dream, and Dying to Live to the screen, has signed on to produce the upcoming series Black Kungfu Chick and Apocalyptic Survival.
Created by filmmaker Rae Shaw and inspired by martial arts films of the 70s and 80s, Black Kungfu Chick follows Tasha, an African American student who learns kungfu from her high school teacher, Mr. Jian, in order to protect her community from local menaces.
The teams commendable efforts in fundraising through social media, the funding to shoot the first episode of Black Kungfu Chick has been raised and shooting is slated to commence next month. Sathyan will be responsible for the transmedia elements, producing the comics, game app, official website and streaming of the web series.
A dynamic mix of a scripted fictional adventure format with reality television, Apocalyptic Survival follows a real cast as they encounter unexpected obstacles out in the wild and use their basic survival skills such as finding food and making fire, to complex tasks like creating a wind turbine and building shelter. With an emphasis on education, viewers will learn valuable survival skills simply by watching the show.
Created by Louell Crowley, Apocalyptic Survival, is currently in the advanced funding stage and is expected to begin filming next year.
Crowley says, “We are honored to have Jainardhan Sathyan as a Producer, and part of the production team. His talent and experience as a “Digital Producer” will bring a mystical element to the series. He will be responsible for the Virtual Reality episodes, Augmented Reality properties, produce the smartphone, tablet and desktop apps, official website and everything digital and trans-media properties around this one of a kind adventure reality show.”
For Sathyan 2016 has been incredibly successful with two of his recent films, Harveys Dream and Dying to Live, screening at an impressive list of festivals, earning numerous nominations and taking home several prestigious awards.
Taking home the awards for Best Lead Actress, Judges Choice and Best Overall Short from the Womens Only Entertainment Film Festival, and the Best Short Film Award from the Chandler International Film Festival, the Dada Saheb Phalke Film Festival and the Direct Monthly Online Film Festival, Harveys Dream, which Sathyan both produced and directed, was a hit among festival goers and judges alike.
The film, which is based on Stephen Kings Harveys Dream, also earned the Best Actress and Best Screenwriter Awards at TMFF (The Monthly Film Festival), as well as a nomination for Sathyan for Best Director.
One of the unique desires Sathyan had going into the casting of the film was to have the main characters in the story, an aging couple, be a real life couple off screen who had been together for decades.
Sathyans track record has proven that he always manages to make things work even if he has to go to incredible lengths to find what hes looking for, and with Roxanne Hart (Highlander), who plays Janet, and Golden Globe nominee Philip Casnoff (Sinatra), who plays Harvey, he found the perfect couple to take on the starring roles in his film.
As the producer of Dying to Live, Sathyan was immediately drawn to director Ilya Roshkovs innate talent and vision. The film has recently be chosen as an Official Selection of the Carmel International Film Festival where it will screen on October 21. With the films US premiere being held at the Manhattan Film Festival where it was nominated for the Best Dramatic Short Award, as well as being chosen as an Official Selection of the Cannes Court Metrage and the USA Film Festival where it earned 2nd Place for the Best Short Film Award, Sathyans intuition was right on the money.
He says, Producing is a speculative business and it is all about spotting the right talent early and embarking on the creative journey, venturing with new experiments. Film is the only medium that allows you to do all this and much more in a single project.
Earlier in his career Sathyan produced the series Oohlala, a 26-part reality series in search of a musical band, which aired on Sun Network, India’s leading entertainment television network. A branded series sponsored by Pepsi, Oohlala gave Sathyan the opportunity to work closely with two-time Oscar Award winner A.R. Rahman who composed the score for the film Slumdog Millionaire.
Over the years Sathyan has produced more than 20 major television series including Natgeo Genius, Mallika-e-Kitchen, Magar Ke Nagar, Baazi Dimaag Ki, School Singer, Naalai Natchatiram, O Podu, Safar Wapsi Ka, Kaho What’s Your Idea and others. He also produced Dhanushs Sachin Anthem music video, which not only broke viral records pulling in over one million views on YouTube within two days of its release, and receiving over eight million to date, but also earning coveted industry accolades including two EMVIE Awards from the Mumbai Advertising Club Awards for Best Media Innovation in both the Digital Video and Digital Social Media categories.
In 2013 he produced Unilevers Pureit film, which was made in five languages and garnered wide coverage including the Huffington Post and other leading media sources. The film informed viewers about the disastrous health dangers and fatalities caused by unsanitary water in developing countries, and how the advanced technology in Unilevers Pureit water purifying system gives less privileged people access to clean water.
Aside from his busy work as a producer, Jainardhan Sathyan is an advisor on the boards of the International Stem Society for Human Rights, which seeks to nurture survivors of human rights abuse through technology, education and the performing arts and IdeaHive, a cause driven campaign management agency.
