ABOUT THIS EPISODE
She immigrated to the United States just after 9/11, paid herself $500 a month to run a nonprofit out of a broom closet, and spent 24 years building what no one else had built. Rita Meher joins Ritika Agrawal to talk about what it actually takes to create the infrastructure behind South Asian cinema in North America: from getting Netflix to fund your filmmakers to acquiring a 105-year-old Seattle theater with a grant application she wrote over a Labor Day weekend.
Rita Meher is the founder and Executive Director of Tasveer, the longest-running South Asian film festival in North America and now the first Oscar-qualifying South Asian film festival in the United States. Tasveer recently acquired Arc Lodge, a $2.85 million Seattle film center, and operates a Netflix-supported $35,000 filmmaker grant program. Tasveer's annual festival is held in Seattle.
Rita explains:
■Why South Asian storytellers still represent under 2% of mainstream media, and what that number actually demands of the people building the ecosystem
■How she convinced Netflix to create a filmmaker fund by asking for a conversation, not a donation
■The difference between pitching and soft-selling: why leading with emotional investment beats leading with ROI
■How she wrote a passionate grant letter for $3 million over a Labor Day weekend, after initially planning to ask for $600,000
■Why owning your own space changes everything: the freedom to show films seven days a week, on your own terms, for your own community
■What made her say "I deserve this theater", and why that kind of conviction is what actually moves funders
■The one piece of advice she'd give her younger self: stop putting people on pedestals, and trust your intuition enough to reach out
■What sets selected films apart at Tasveer not heavy, not hollow; unique, commercially viable stories with layered human purpose
Chapters:
(00:00): Why She Built What Didn't Exist
(02:00): The Stat That Should Shock You: Under 2% Representation
(03:45): How to Build a Platform When Nobody Hands You One
(06:00): What 9/11 Had to Do With South Asian Cinema
(08:30): Owning Your Story Before Someone Else Does
(10:30): How Tasveer Became Oscar-Qualifying
(13:00): Why "Can You Donate?" Is the Wrong Question
(16:00): The Conversation That Gets a Yes Every Time
(19:30): How She Got Netflix to Fund South Asian Filmmakers
(22:30): Buying a $2.85M Theater With Almost Nothing in the Bank
(27:00): How to Ask for $3M When You Planned to Ask for $600K
(30:00): On Being a Fearful Leader Who Refuses to Quit
(33:00): Don't Follow the Money, Here's What to Follow Instead
(35:30): What's Coming Next From Rita and Luminary Pictures
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