Thank You, Come Again

In a post 9/11 world, Dharmesh, an undocumented Indian American immigrant stands in front of a racial slur graffitied on the store front of his family’s convenience store. Trapped within the confines of his late family’s American dream, he comes crashing through shades of grief into his subconscious, between reality, memory and imagination, until reaching the acceptance of his father’s demise from an attempted border crossing.

Directed by Nirav Bhakta
Executive Produced by Shivaani Sharma
Produced by Kelsey Fordham, Keertana Sastry, and Alexcina Figueroa

About the filmmaker: Nirav Bhakta is an award-winning Director/Actor/Writer. While growing up as an undocumented immigrant in motels, Nirav utilized the restraints of his environment and geographical boundaries to create with what he had. Due to the lack of authentic roles and experiences as an actor, Nirav began creating zero budget short films focusing on the immigrant experience. In 2019, Nirav and his co-director Gayatri Bajpai were announced as the winners of the HBO Visionaries Short Film Competition for their film ‘Halwa’, which became the first South Asian short form content on HBO. His next project ‘Thank You, Come Again’ created at the Armed With A Camera fellowship with Visual Communications and co-sponsored by The Academy is currently being used as a case study for immigration, race and ethnic politics within scholarly circles such as Rutgers, Brandeis and UCLA. The film received the jury prize at the San Diego Asian Film Festival. In 2021, Nirav was nominated by CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics In Entertainment) for the inaugural CBS Leadership Pipeline Challenge, where his animated short film ‘To The Letter’ received top honors. Nirav is now developing multiple long form content, including his first feature film inspired by a true immigrant story.

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