My Story
Atin Mehra
Atin was born and raised in Varanasi, India and currently resides in Los Angeles, CA. His father died when he was ten years old, forcing him to become the main provider for his mother and two younger siblings. Atin began working in a factory, where he coiled copper wires for fans. This was the first of a long list of jobs that Atin did to support his family, up to and including the moment he picked up his first camera in 1999, and began taking photographs.
Atin’s uncanny ability to connect with individuals from behind the lens eventually led him to filmmaking and he has continued to practice both photography and filmmaking. His own personal struggles with abuse and discrimination in India drew him to stories of underrepresented and marginalized communities. One of the first films he worked on was about female victims of dowry burnings — a project he was forced to abandon when he started receiving death threats. He has since worked as director of photography, cameraperson, line producer, and/or production coordinator on numerous documentaries, TV series, music videos, short films, and commercials, produced by a wide range of companies. His photography has been published in several magazines internationally. He received awards for his early photography in India.
In 2002, he directed and shot his first short film, Mitti ke Jivan (The Cycle of Clay) about a potter from a lower caste (Kumhar) who creates clay cups that are used once, then destroyed, since they can not be shared between upper and lower caste groups.
Atin lived and worked in India until 2005, when he got married and moved to the US. In 2007, he started his own production company, Orange Kite Productions, with the goal of producing feminist, humanistic, forward-thinking films.
