Winter Lights (2025)

A group of criminal animals tries their best to reform themselves into good citizens to avoid serving time in prison.

Hiring bias is something that's rampant in all industries (even unconscious bias). But writing a script totally neutral not only opens the door for more diverse actors, but also for characters that are people first. 

In this short film, writer/director Nikita Hattangady focuses on Jai, a starving artist rooted in the latter category. Though unhoused, he works hard.

Praising Black representation and condemning the power structures that suppress it, a mother delivers an impassioned speech to her distant son.

What are we willing to walk through to see our dreams come to pass? Our minds might be so wholly alive with the passions we carry and the plans we make to see these things become all we wish them to be, yet life doesn’t always want to come alongside. Instead, obstacles arise, both physical and mental, which attempt to dissuade us or even prevent us from moving forward, stalling or stagnating the momentum to achieve what we desire. The age-old question remains….can we overcome? Or will we BE overcome?

With a quirky outline, Project Hail Mary stays within the bounds of human language and imperial fantasy.