Dheeraj Akolkar

VARDO FILMS

BIOGRAPHIE

Dheeraj Akolkar is an award-winning filmmaker and producer, and the founder of Vardo Films. His films Liv & Ingmar (2012), Let the Scream be Heard (2013) and Wars Don’t End (2018) have released theatrically in 11 countries, selected officially in more than 100 international film festivals, received nominations and awards and sold for further distribution in 105 territories worldwide. As a young person, Mr. Akolkar volunteered at the NGO founded and run by his doctor parents to support education and personal development for underprivileged children in rural Maharashtra, in western India. After obtaining a first degree in Architecture and a Master’s degree in Feature Film Production, Mr. Akolkar founded Vardo Films 2009 to develop fiction and non-fiction films for international audiences. His 2018 film, Wars Don’t End, explored the stories of children born of the Second World War in Norway. Narrated by Liv Ullmann, the film was invited for an official screening at the Norwegian Parliament in January 2019, and later included as a reference case study in the rescue campaign for children born to ISIS soldiers and Norwegian mothers. In 2019, Mr. Akolkar began collaborating with Sabine Lee and Darrel Toulon on stories of Bosnian children born of war. The resulting film, In the Name of the Father/U Ime Oca, was screened by the European Parliament in 2021. Mr. Akolkar's second collaboration with Prof. Lee and Mr. Toulon, on stories of children born in captivity in Northern Uganda, was the subject of his 2021 film, The Wound is Where the Light Enters. The film is part of a local and global impact campaign, with series of screenings taking place in remote corners of Northern Uganda. In 2021, Mr. Akolkar teamed up with an Oscar-nominated production company, Sant og Usant, and producer Anita Rehoff Larsen on one of his most ambitious films to date, titled The Other Side of Silence. This film focuses on stories of children born of conflict-related sexual violence in seven war zones: Germany, Bosnia, Uganda, Vietnam, Columbia, Iraq and Ukraine. The film is currently in production. Mr. Akolkar continues to collaborate with Liv Ullmann, and is filming a docu-series called 'The Road Less Travelled', based on her life and work as an actor-director, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, chairman of the International Rescue Committee, and co-founder of The Women’s Refugee Commission. Mr. Akolkar is one of the co-founders of a charity - The Global Reconciliation, Advocacy and Community-Building Engagement (GRACE) in War Affected Regions - based in the UK and working internationally in several post-conflict societies of the world.

FILMOGRAPHIE