Deepa Mehta
Toronto 43° 39' 12.53" N, 79° 23' 2.16" W Arts Film Person
Deepa Mehta is a Genie Award-winning Indian-born Canadian film director and screenwriter, most known for her Elements Trilogy, Fire (1996), Earth (1998), and Water (2005); among which Earth was submitted by the Indian government for Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and "Water" was submitted by Canada for Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, making it Canada's first non-French Canadian film to receive a nomination in that category. She also co-founded Hamilton-Mehta Productions, with her husband, producer David Hamilton in 1996.
After completing her graduation, Mehta started making short documentaries in India, and in time she met Canadian documentarian Paul Saltzman, who was in India making a film and whom she was to later marry and migrate with to Canada in 1973. Once in Canada, she embarked on her film career as a screenwriter for children's films, she also made a few documentaries including,At 99: A Portrait of Louise Tandy Murch (1975).[1] In 1991 she made her feature-film directorial debut with Sam & Me (starring Om Puri), a story of the relationship between a young Indian boy and an elderly Jewish gentleman in the Toronto neighbourhood of Parkdale. It won Honorable Mention in the Camera d'Or category of the 1991 Cannes Film Festival. Mehta followed up with Camilla starring Bridget Fonda and Jessica Tandy in 1994. In 2002, she directed Bollywood/Hollywood, for which she won the Genie Award for Best Original Screenplay.
Mehta directed two episodes of George Lucas' television series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. The first episode, "Benares, January 1910", aired in 1993. The second episode was aired in 1996 as part of a TV movie titled Young Indiana Jones: Travels with Father.
Mehta also directed several English-language films set in Canada, including The Republic of Love (2003) and Heaven on Earth (2008) which deals with domestic violence and has Preity Zinta playing the female lead. The film premiered at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival
In Canada she met and married filmmaker Paul Saltzman whom she divorced in 1993. The couple have a daughter, author Devyani Saltzman. Her daughter is an acclaimed author, curator and cultural critic.
Mehta is currently married to producer David Hamilton.[14] Her brother, Dilip Mehta is a photojournalist and film director, who directed, Cooking with Stella, which he co-wrote with Deepa.