Satinder Kassoana

Satinder Kassoana isn’t your average filmmaker—this guy jumped from a cushy post-grad research gig in computer engineering to diving headfirst into the wild world of indie cinema. His breakout flick, 'Range Road 290,' really turned heads. Not only did he play the villain (yep, that smug bad guy was him), but he also juggled writing, directing, and even editing the thing. That’s a one-man show if I’ve ever seen one. The movie landed a sweet spot at the International Film Festival of South Asia Toronto, which is a pretty big deal for South Asian cinema in North America. Talk about a game-changer for his career. But Satinder didn’t just stop there. He cooked up 'Bonjour Ji,' this French-language short that doesn’t tiptoe around tough topics—it digs right into racial prejudices and the messy stuff that separates communities. Audiences and juries ate it up. The film snagged Best Short Film at festivals in Toronto, Richmond, and DC, plus it walked away with the Best North American Short at Vancouver’s festival. Not bad, huh? Then there’s 'Don’t Walk Among the Dead,' a 2016 short set in a gnarly post-apocalyptic world, where two sisters are scrambling toward safety and, naturally, nothing goes as planned. He scored funding from Telus and even rallied support on Kickstarter to make it happen. And just to flex a little more, from 2009 to 2014, he wrote and directed two TV shows for Canadian ethnic channels. Satinder’s got this wild mix of tech brains and cinematic guts—he’s definitely not following any boring rulebook.