Anureet Watta is a poet, writer, and filmmaker based in New Delhi. They were part of the QueerFrames Screenwriting Lab, supported by Netflix, Goethe-Institut, and the Queer Muslim Project, and presented their dark comedy project Muskuraiye Aap Lucknow Mein Hai at the Berlinale – European Film Market.
Their debut short film Kinaara, made on a phone with a one-person crew, screened at 30 international film festivals, including the Oscar-qualifying Bengaluru International Short Film Festival. It received a Jury Mention for Best Emerging Director at KASHISH Mumbai and won awards such as Best Film on Women’s Issues and Best Screenplay for Experimental Film.
Their second short, Oranges in the Winter Sun, produced by Lotus Visual Productions, screened at the Images Festival (Toronto), Melbourne Queer Film Festival, Fringe! (London), and 30 other festivals.
Anureet is a Writer’s Ink Lab Fellow, where they developed their first feature script Ruli Hui Nazmein, winning the ‘Emerging Voice in Indian Cinema’ award. They have assisted writing on feature films with Faraz Arif Ansari (Sheer Qorma, 2021) and Bun Tikki (Jio Studios), starring Abhay Deol and Shabana Azmi.
They also participated in the ‘Language is a Queer Thing’ fellowship and the BBC’s Contains Strong Language exchange in 2023.
