Raj Amit Kumar

Raj Amit Kumar is a filmmaker and writer known for his socio-political drama Unfreedom which is banned in India as it dealt with religious fundamentalism and violence against homosexuals. The film was released in the U.S. in 2015, and won a UFVA Faculty Screenwriting Award in 2009, and several other International Awards. The film was later acquired by and released on NETFLIX despite its continued ban by Censor Board of India. His Second film Brown is in production.

The script for the film won the first prize in the 2009 Faculty Screenwriting Competition at University Film and Video Association.

Kumar graduated with a Masters of Arts in Cinema and Media Studies from College of Staten Island (CUNY) in 2006, where he received the George Custen Memorial Award for Academic Excellence. He has also been awarded by the National Scholarship of India for Academic Excellence, and a First Prize in Faculty Screenwriting Award at University Film and Video Association (UFVA) 2009. Having finished his PhD coursework and taking PHD ABD in Cinema and Media studies at Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC) he began work on his first feature-length film Unfreedom.

He is also a media academic, teacher, and writer. He has taught cinema theory and history at both his alma maters between the years 2005 to 2009, and his writings and research papers have been published and presented at various conferences as well.