Neil "Shankar" Sudhakaran - Festival Founder & Director
Neil "Shankar" Sudhakaran is an award-winning independent filmmaker, projectionist, sound designer, and arts producer from Akron, OH. Being a second-generation Indian/American, Neil's father is justifiably devastated for his pursuit of the arts, or at least would be if this absentee wasn’t awarded the distinguished Deadbeat Dad of the Year since 1990. Throughout the late 20th Century, Neil was reluctantly checking diversity quotas and changing hearts in Ashland, Ohio, as being “One of the good brownies.” Neil would like to thank The Grim Reaper; the two have become best buds, although Mr. Grim visits less regularly since Neil received a kidney and liver transplant. Most notably, Neil received a Cleveland Critics Circle Award for his film/projection work on Angry F@#$ at convergence-continuum. Neil is also the founder of The Akron Independent Horror Short Film Festival. Thank you to the OG 4, Rachel, Christina, and Beth, for always being my biggest fans.
