Who is Kartiki Gonsalves? The filmmaker wins Oscars 2023 for best short film The Elephant Whisperers
Oscars 2023 turned out to be great for India as it wins in Best Documentary Short Film and Best Originals Song at the 95th Academy awards. The documentary The Elephant Whisperers by Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga made history, where the director went on to thank the Academy, producer Monga, her family and friends for their support and most importantly her mother country India. But who is Kartiki Gonsalves, what were her previous works and her total net worth? Let’s take a look at the details.
Who is Kartiki Gonsalves?
Gonsalves has done a broad range of work and is best categorised as an Indian wildlife photographer and filmmaker who specialises in social and natural history documentaries.
She lives in Mumbai and was brought up in Nilgiris. Gonsalves focuses on work, regardless of theme and focuses on promoting awareness related to conversation.
She has always described herself as a traveller and explorer.
She made her directing debut with the now Oscar-winning short film The Elephant Whisperers, but has been earlier mentioned in several magazines and blogs.
In her award acceptance speech at the Oscars, Gonsalves said, “I stand here today to speak for the sacred bond between us and our natural world, for the respect of indigenous communities, and empathy towards other living beings we share space with and finally, for coexistence.”
Her early life
Gonsalves said she was only three when she first visited a sanctuary. Her love for wildlife is hereditary.
Her father also worked as a photographer and her mother was a fauna enthusiast. However, the love for nature was passed on from her grandmother, who was an amateur naturalist.
The Elephant Whisperers
The 41-minute short documentary film explores the bond of people who have been generationally working with elephants and so they are aware of the needs of the jungle. The movie focuses on the bond between Raghu, an orphaned elephant and his caretakers, who devoted their whole life protecting him from poachers and raised him as their own child.
After the win, Monga said on her Instagram post: “Kartiki has spent the last five years living alongside Bommon, Billie and the Elephants, uncovering the extraordinary story of two caregivers, who despite all odds, saved an orphaned baby elephant. In the documentary, Kartiki shows a rare, beautiful and sacred bond between humans, animals and the environment, that establishes the importance of protecting and carrying the practice of caregiving forward for future generations. (sic)”
