Gritty journey to Kashmir leads to Sundance honor

I met Shilpi Gupta over at the Sundance HQ at the festival two weeks ago. After winning a Jury Prize for her short she got this write up in the SFGATE. She also has a bunch of (long) comments comming in over at the origional post.

When Shilpi Gupta didn’t receive an honorable mention at the Sundance Film Festival awards ceremony a week ago, she was disappointed. But moments later, the first-time filmmaker found herself on stage, behind the podium. Never mind an honorable mention she’d won the Jury Prize. Gupta’s 24-minute documentary, “When the Storm Came,” tied for top honors in the short filmmaking category, besting 82 films.

“I was so adamant that a documentary wouldn’t win,” the 26-year-old says a few days later at a cafe near her Berkeley home. “I never expected even to be at Sundance, much less to win.”