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Humans In The Loop
A Cinematic Bridging of AI and Adivasi Realities
Speakers
74 minutes | India | 2024 | Hindi, Kurukh with English Subtitles
An Adivasi woman begins interacting with AI while working in a data centre in remote Jharkhand.
After a divorce, Nehma returns to her ancestral village with her children. To support her family, she takes an unusual job as a ‘data labeler’. She trains algorithms to recognise & distinguish objects, approaching the task with the care of a parent teaching their child. As she works, Nehma uncovers human biases in AI systems, questioning if AI can truly ever adapt to an indigenous perspective.
Aranya Sahay’s layered Humans in the Loop, brings AI and Adivasi reality together while taking the viewer through a woman’s attempts to mend her strained relationship with her adolescent daughter.
The film screening will be followed by a conversation between the Director, Aranya Sahay, and Shrikant Karwa.
Credits:
Writer & Director | Aranya Sahay
Producers | Mathivanan Rajendran, Sarabhi Ravichandran & Shilpa Kumar
Cast | Sonal Madhushankar, Ridhima Singh, Geeta Guha, Anurag Lugun, Monika, Aranya Sahay
Director of Photography | Monica Tiwari, Harshit Saini
Editing | Swaroop Reghu, Aranya Sahay
Sound Design | Kalhan Raina
Music | Saransh ‘KHWAGBAH’ Sharma
Colorist | Uday Oswal, Toshik Saraf
Production Design | Shubham Solanki
Speakers
Aranya Sahay
Aranya is an Indian filmmaker based out of Mumbai. He studied Direction at FTII, Pune. He went on to assist Imtiaz Ali and Patrick Graham as an Associate Director & Director’s Assistant.
He has directed five short films, of which Songs for Babasaheb and Chait have screened at Mumbai International Film Festival, Signs Film Festival and Jaffna Film Festival. In 2021, his film Saaya was selected as a Film Bazaar Recommends project. He was a participant and grant winner in the Museum of Imagined Futures Impact Fellowship Programme in 2023.
Mathivanan Rajendran
Mathivanan Rajendran is a media producer and Program Director at The Storiculture Company, where he leads a media accelerator at the intersection of gender, ecology, and responsible technology. He began his career in global consulting, working in user research and experience design before transitioning into building impactful media.
As a producer, His films include Nasir (IFFR, FIPRESCI Best Indian Film) and Nirvana Inn (Busan), with work that has screened at MoMA, AFI, and Zerkalo. His recent productions include Taak, a speculative short on surveillance and patriarchy, premiered at MAMI, while Humans in the Loop, a film that explores AI bias which won Best Film at BIFFES, received a FIPRESCI award, and was selected by Doc Society’s Democracy Unit.
At Storiculture he just launched Earthbound/100, a platform to connect philanthropy to creators, backing 100 impactful projects on ecology, communities & neighborhoods and Museum of Imagined Futures, a storytelling platform for immersive and speculative work.
Mathivanan is a BAFTA Breakthrough Honoree and an alumnus of the European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs (EAVE) program.
Shrikant Karwa
Shrikant Karwa is an expert in AI ethics, digital public infrastructure, and identity systems, with extensive experience in governmental, philanthropic, and academic initiatives. He holds a Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from Penn State and is currently pursuing a second Master’s in AI Ethics and Society at the University of Cambridge, UK.
As a founding member of the Modular Open Source Identity Platform (MOSIP) at IIIT-Bangalore, Shrikant has played a pivotal role in developing digital identity systems for developing nations. Supported by the Gates Foundation, Omidyar Network, NORAD, and Tata Trust, MOSIP fosters inclusive public infrastructure. Shrikant’s strategic leadership has driven partnerships with adopter countries, notably advancing initiatives in Morocco and Latin America.
Previously, he contributed to the World Bank’s Identity for Development (ID4D) Group, shaping global digital identity strategies, and played a key role in India’s Aadhaar program, influencing policy, field operations, and ecosystem development. Shrikant also volunteers with iSPIRT, focusing on innovative data collaboration frameworks to advance public technology development.
