Writer, producer, academic and co-founder of the Pan Asian Screen Collective, and A/P Shuchi Kothari has written and produced features, shorts, and television projects that have garnered distinctions and awards. Her creative works have been screened in more than 100 international film festivals including Cannes, Venice, Telluride and Toronto.  

Besides being recognised for her critically acclaimed work, Shuchi is a well-regarded script consultant, mentor, and industry expert who serves on funding panels, development initiatives, writers’ labs, and practice-based workshops. In 2026, she became the first Asian New Zealander to be appointed to Member  of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for services to the Screen Industry.  In  2024, Show Me Shorts International Film Festival honoured her with the Spirt of Short Film Award and in 2022 Shuchi was awarded "Outstanding Contribution to the New Zealand Screen Industry" by Women in Film and Television (WIFT), New Zealand.

Shuchi's commitment to inclusive storytelling is reflected in her own creative writing but also in the projects she produces or mentors.

In 2008 she formed the Thousand Apologies Collective, a group of filmmakers of Asian descent with whom she co-produced New Zealand’s first Asian prime-time broadcast sketch show for TV-3 titled A Thousand Apologies.

Ten years later in 2018, Shuchi co-founded PASC – The Pan-Asian Screen Collective to develop and advocate for more equitable resourses for Asian creative practitioners in the screen industry.

Shuchi also publishes in the field production studies and South Asian popular culture. She is currently the coordinator of the Screen Production programme at the University of Auckland where she teaches screenplay writing.

Distinctions/Honours:

2026 King's honours - appointed MNZM for Services to the Screen Industry

2026 Best NRI short film for Seen (w/d Shuchi Kothari), Delhi International Film Festival

2024 Spirit of Short Film Award, Show Me Shorts International Short Film Festival

2022 Awarded "Outstanding Contribution to New Zealand Screen Industry" by WIFT, NZ

2022 NETPAC award (Best Asian Film) for feature film Kāinga (dirs Julie Zhu, Asuka Sylvie et al), Hawaii Film Festival, Honolulu (Screen Credit Produced by) Brown Sugar Apple Grunt, NZ

2022 Honorable Mention Best Pacific Film, for Kāinga, Hawaii Film Festival, Honolulu

2022 Awarded Best Short Film for Perianayki (dir Bala Shingade), New Zealand International Film Festival (Screen credit Executive Producer)

2022-21 Granted funds for Episode One- Webseries Development and Pilot Production Programme by NZOA ($795,000) (Creator & Convenor)

2019 Marsden Fund Grant, Royal Society of New Zealand (NZ$850,000) Principal Investigators Sarina Pearson and Shuchi Kothari

2019 Best Regional Language Film Award for Shit One Carries, 7th Gujarat International Film Festival, India (screen credit: Writer, Director, Producer)

2019 Asia-New Zealand Arts Foundation Award for Film Industry Advocacy

2017 Named team member on Principal Investigator Dr. Tess-Moeke Maxwell’s New Zealand Health Research Council Grant (NZ$1.1million)

2013 Professional Development award, New Zealand Film Commission

2012 Exhibition of three short films at T2F Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan

2011 Professional Development Award, New Zealand Film Commission, New Zealand

2010 Nominated in the category for Best Screenplay by the 52nd Annual Filmfare Awards, Mumbai, India (India’s equivalent to the Academy Awards) for the feature film Firaaq (writer).

2010 Nominated in the category for Best Story by the Star Screen Awards, Mumbai, India (India’s equivalent to the Golden Globe Awards) for the feature film Firaaq (writer).

2010 Best Film Award (Critics’ Choice) for Firaaq (writer) at the Star Screen Awards, Mumbai, India

2010 Six Dollar Fifty Man (executive producer) Awarded Jury Prize in International Short Filmmaking, Sundance Film Festival, USA

2009 Received the Writer’s Award by the New Zealand Film Commission (NZD $50,000)

2009 Apron Strings (co-writer/co-producer) Special Selection 62nd Festival De Cannes (Cinephile), France, May

2009 Six Dollar Fifty Man (executive producer) In Competition - 62nd Festival De Cannes, Awarded Special Distinction- 62nd Festival De Cannes, France

2008 Invited as a writer, to attend the world premiere for two features (Firaaq, Apron Strings) by the Toronto International Film Festival, Canada, September

2007 Coffee & Allah (writer/producer) In Competition at the Venice International Film Festival

2007 Awarded (jointly with Sarina Pearson and Great Southern Television) a grant from New Zealand On 2007 Air for the production of A Thousand Apologies, New Zealand’s first Asian prime-time television series (NZ$645,000)

2006 Selected by the New Zealand Film Commission as mentor and Executive Producer for six short films for NZ$345,000

2005 Awarded (jointly with Sarina Pearson) the Vice Chancellor’s Strategic Development Fund for a pilot episode of A Thousand Apologies (NZ$90,000)

1999 Awarded (jointly with Sarina Pearson) a grant from New Zealand On Air for the television documentary A Taste of Place: Stories of Food and Longing

1992 Awarded the James Michener Fellowship for Screenplay writing, Texas Centre for Writers, University of Texas at Austin (US$30,000)

Qualifications:
BA(Hons), MA, PhD

Areas of Expertise:
Screenplay writing, producing, digital storytelling

Media Keywords:
Scriptwriting, Screenplay writing, Producer, Advocacy, Diversity & Inclusion, Asian Representation on Screen, Production Studies, Food,