UM School of Communication

Sanjeev Chatterjee

Sanjeev Chatterjee, M.F.A.

Vice Dean, Professor and Executive Director, Knight Center for International Media

Sanjeev Chatterjee is an award winning documentary filmmaker. He has taught classes in studio and field production, media and society, writing and documentary production at the University of Miami. He received an Excellence in Teaching Award in 2002 and has been nominated two more times since. In 2007, Chatterjee was honored with the Images and Voices of Hope World Summit Award of Appreciation for his documentary work. He has been on the faculty of the Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change, 2008 and 2009.

Professor Chatterjee is producer, co-director and writer of a global motion picture project about potable water entitled "One Water" (http://www.onewater.org). An earlier short version of the film won two awards at the Broadcast Education Association and has been screened at a special United Nations conferences in 2004 and 2005 as well as a special jury award at the World Water Forum in Mexico City in 2006. A feature version of "One Water" premiered on the closing night of the Miami International Film Festival, 2008. The film has been screened at diverse venues including Expo Zaragoza 2008, International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements. "One Water" is the recipient of the Best Environmental Feature award from the Artivist Film Festival, 2008, Best Documentary Cinambiente 2008, Turin, Italy and Best Documentary at the Foyle Film Festival 2008, Derry, Ireland. An international television version of the film was completed in 2009 for which Chatterjee wrote a new script narrated by actor Martin Sheen.

In 2006 Prof. Chatterjee completed a television pilot entitled "Through Her Eyes" - a proposed series of documentaries about women photojournalists of note. He is co-producing this series with colleague Lelen Bourgoignie-Robert. "Through Her Eyes" won the Best of Festival, King Award at the Broadcast Education Association's Media Arts Festival in 2006.

Prof. Chatterjee's earlier documentary work explores issues of identity among people in the Indian diaspora. His films on the topic are "Bittersweet" (1995) about Asian Indians in the United States and "Pure Chutney" (1998) about people of Indian origin in Trinidad. "Pure Chutney" won second place at the Film South Asia competition in Kathmandu in 1999. In 2005 Professor Chatterjee completed "Dirty Laundry" - an essay film about people of Indian origin living in South Africa.

His other documentary work includes "From the Shadow of History" (1996) about the role of preventive diplomacy in the Republic of Macedonia during the Yugoslav war. The film has been shown on the History Channel and WPBT (PBS, Miami) and won awards at the Vermont International Film Festival and Silver State Documentary Festival.

In 1999-2000, Professor Chatterjee was commissioned by the National Geographic Channel to produce television reports about environment and culture in India. The topics of these reports, which were part of National Geographic's prime time magazine show "National Geographic Today," ranged from deforestation and habitat fragmentation to the survival of folk and classical dance in India. The Salt Lake City Corporation commissioned Professor Chatterjee to create a video installation for an exhibition "The Physical Fitness of Cities" that was mounted as part of the 2002 Winter Olympic festivities and highlighted aspects of good design in city building.

In addition to his classroom responsibilities, Professor Chatterjee continues to work with students through the School of Communication's award winning Documentary Unit, which he founded in 1994. Also, in 2001 Professor Chatterjee created "UMIQ", a University-wide scholastic game show on the School's cable channel "UMTV". Produced entirely by students, the show has won several national awards including a Telly, an Aegis Award and a Crystal Reel Award.

Professor Chatterjee has served on the advisory board for the Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy since its inception in 2003. In 2006 he accepted the responsibility to advise the global online enterprise databazaar.com on their philanthropy aimed at supporting American and Indian students in the fields of Visual Journalism. Professor Chatterjee is also serves on the advisory boards of CINE, School of Convergence (New Delhi) and the Coral Gables Cinematheque.

Professor Chatterjee earned his M.A, in English Literature from Delhi University and his M.F.A. in Television Production from Brooklyn College. He lives in Miami with his wife Sumita, who is a historian, and their children Abhivav and Uma.

Sanjeev Chatterjee
School of Communication
Frances L. Wolfson Building 2005-A
5100 Brunson Drive
Coral Gables, FL 33146
Phone: (305) 284-2234
Fax: (305) 284-2454
E-mail: sanjeev@miami.edu