Roma Sur is a screenwriter and filmmaker, who found her niche in narrating cross-cultural stories that channel her Asian American immigrant experience of living in the U.S. for 20 years, and her childhood in Cosmopolitan India. She comes from a family of fierce independent women, and they often form the core of her writing. She writes young adult and female driven dramas with levity.
Her most recent project is a 38 minute documentary, titled MAA. Shot over a two-year period in India, Ontario and Colorado, MAA follows an 80-year-old's deferred dream to gaze upon the Niagara Falls, before her last breath. Completed in June 2021, the film is a recent semi-finalist at Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival, an Academy, BAFTA and Canadian Screen Awards qualifier. Follow the project @Maadocumentary
Sur also wrote the Pilot Episode of the web series, Womanhood, "Embarrassing Moments only a Woman can Experience." It was shot in June 2021. Sur is currently in pre-production for her recent feature screenplay, The Rock Within, which has been a second rounder at Sundance feature lab, 2018, an official select, at the Stowe Story Labs, 2018, an invited project at the Stowe Spring Retreat, 2019, a second rounder at India’s leading pitch market, Film Bazaar, 2019, and a quarter finalist at Screencraft’s Funding contest, 2019. It is slated for a summer 2022 production. Sur leads the study abroad program to Mumbai, titled Bollywood Connections.
Areas of Expertise
Screenwriting: fiction/non-fiction
Producing
Media Theory classes
Education, Licensure & Certifications
University of Bangalore, India
Masters in American Literature
University of Denver
Masters in Film and Video Production
Awards
MAA, documentary
Semi-finalist, Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival, 2021
CU President’s Diversity Award 2020
An annual award, across four campuses for work that recognizes the values of diversity
Not Pictured, Faculty Mentor for a bilingual short, produced on location in Mumbai
- Dada Saheb Phalke, Special Mention 2020
- San Bernando Valley Film Festival, Finalist 2020
- Colorado Dragon Film Festival 2020
- Mumbai Shorts Film Festival 2020
- Flamingo Mumbai Film Festival 2020
- Bangalore Shorts Film Festival 2020
- Global India Film Festival, Best Film 2020
- Best International Global Short, India 2019
- Winner, Outstanding Achievement, L’age D’or International Film Festival 2019
- Goa Short Film Festival 2019
Desert Flower, Faculty Mentor for a student-led web-series
- Winner, Independent Shorts Awards, Los Angeles 2019
- Miami Web Fest 2019
- Global Web Series, Semi-finalist 2020
Three Worlds One Stage, a feature documentary
- San Souci Festival of Dance Cinema, Brazil 2020
- Official Selection, Colorado Independent Women Film 2019
- Official Selection, Breckenridge Film Festival 2019
- FAD Festival - Film, Art Dance on Screen 2019
- Official Selection, Peace Film Festival, Florida 2019
- Best Feature Documentary, Global India Film Festival 2019
- Official Selection, Utah Dance Film Festival 2019
- Official Selection, Dragon Film Festival 2019
- Women in Film and Media Colorado Finishing Fund Grant 2019
- Jaipur International Film Festival 2019
- Delhi International Film Festival 2019
- Screening at European
The Rock Within, a feature screenplay
- Sundance Feature Lab, Semi-finalist 2018
- Official Selection, Stowe Story Lab 2018
- Official Selection, Stowe Spring Retreat 2018
- Film Bazaar, Second Rounder 2019
- Screencraft Funding, Qaurter-finalist 2019
Seven Days Straight, Faculty Mentor for a student-led web series 2016
Best Editing and Best Writing, LA Web fest
The Golden Hour, a feature documentary
- Best Documentary, Indian Film Festival of Houston 2013
- National Screening, NDTV India 2014
- Official Selection, Mumbai International Film Festival, Mumbai India 2014
- Official Selection, Golden Door International Film Festival of Jersey City 2013
- Denver Premiere, SIE FILM Center 2013
- Featured in THE HINDU, South India’s Leading Daily 2013
- Featured in Good Housekeeping Magazine, India 2013
Storytelling Today, a short documentary
- Inducted in the professional catalogue of Denver Public Library 2004
- Boulder Community Media Award for in the category of Documentary – Issue 2003
The Harold Mendelsohn Graduate Student Award
- Department of Mass Communications and Journalism Studies, DU 2003
- The Graduate Teaching Assistant award 2002– 2003
Copywriter for BPL Connect Pagers
- Silver Award, Best Copy in Print Ads, 1999
Publications and Presentations
PROFESSIONAL WRITING WORKSHOPS
- Fernanda Rossi, Documentary Script Doctor 2012
- Karl Iglesias, UCLA Script Consultant 2016
- Alessandra Pillar, Fiction Script Doctor 2017
- Linda Seger, Fiction Script Doctor 2018
- Mentorship with Tangerine Entertainment, New York 2018 – 2019
PRINT PUBLICATIONS
- Sur, Roma. (2007). The World of Manick Sorcar: Where Art becomes Magic. Galaxylight Books.
- (a 210-page biography of a laser artist and world-renowned magician)
- Freelance Writer 2006 - 2008: 5280-magazine, Denver
- Freelance Writer/Food Critic: Valley Scene Magazine, LA 2007
- Freelance Writer: Film India Worldwide, India 2007 – 2008
- Columnist: Good Housekeeping magazine, India 2007 – 2012
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