Pushpendra Singh, born in Sainyaa near Agra in 1978, studied at the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, where he is now also a visiting faculty member. His directorial debut feature, Lajwanti (The Honour Keeper), premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in 2014. Ashwattham, his second feature premiered at the Busan International Film Festival in the New Currents Competition. His hybrid documentary, Maru ro Moti (Pearl of the Desert), premiered in the feature length competition at IDFA 2019 and won the Golden Hejnal at the Krakow Film Festival. His latest, Laila Aur Satt Geet (The Shepherdess And The Seven Songs) premiered in the Encounters Competition at Berlinale, 2020 and won the NETPAC Award at Jeonju International Film Festival, 2020. He was awarded the Best Director in the Young Cinema Competition (World) at the Hong Kong International Film Festival, 2020. Pushpendra has also acted in Amit Dutta’s Venice award winning film, Aadmi ki aurat aur anya kahaniyaa (Orizzonti special jury mention, Venice IFF, 2009) and Maximilian Linz’s Asta Upset (Berlinale Forum, 2014) and Berd Luetzeler’s, Camera threat (Berlinale Forum Expanded, 2017).