Vaishali Sinha and Face2Face host David Peck talk about her new film Ask The Sexpert, cultural context, “women as allies”, a Doctor as a 90-year-old pioneer and the latent effects of colonialism.
Synopsis
ASK THE SEXPERT is a feature length documentary about a highly popular 93-year-old sex advice columnist for a daily newspaper in Mumbai. Despite sex being a taboo topic in that country, the column’s brand of non-moralistic advice and humor has emboldened many to write in with their questions, the vast majority of whom seek basic information.
The columnist gains popularity even while a ban on comprehensive sex education in schools is adopted by approximately one third of India’s states.
Biography
Vaishali Sinha Co-Directed/Produced the feature documentary MADE IN INDIA about the personal stories behind the phenomenon of outsourcing surrogate mothers to India. The film premiered at Hot Docs Film Festival and aired on PBS in 2012.
The film received several Jury awards at festivals and is currently a case study at Harvard Business School for their class on ethics. ASK THE SEXPERT is Vaishali’s second feature length documentary; a presentation by her company Coast to Coast Films.
Vaishali has also produced numerous shorts. She has received support for her films from ITVS, the MacArthur Foundation, Tribeca Film Institute, Catapult Fund, Firelight Media, Playboy Foundation, Chicken & Egg Pictures, The Fledgling Fund, Center for Asian American Media, Mozilla, Ford Foundation, Nextpix and more.
Vaishali also freelances at Videoline Productions founded by Peabody award-winning filmmaker Richard Wormser (Rise and Fall of Jim Crow). Vaishali speaks regularly at events and has acted as jury member at film festivals. In the past she has worked with women’s right group Point of View, in Mumbai. She is originally from Mumbai, and now resides in Brooklyn, NY with her husband Fred Lassen, a Music Director and their two-year-old son Luca.
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