men in blue
SYNOPSIS Inspired by actual events, MEN IN BLUE explores the effects of human trafficking and labor exploitation in the United States. Resistance brews among the Indian immigrants who were stripped of their dignity when a reputed shipyard in Texas conscripted them as guest workers to repair the oil rigs and ships damaged after Hurricane Katrina.
RUNTIME 35'
COMPLETION DATE November 2022
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN USA
SHOOTING FORMAT Digital
SCREENING FORMAT DCP
ASPECT RATIO 2.39:1
SOUND 5.1
LANGUAGES Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, English
the team
FEATURING Antonythasan Jesuthasan, Manoj Chandra, Manoj Pillai
DIRECTOR, WRITER, EDITOR Sachin Dheeraj
PRODUCERS Sachin Dheeraj, Janani Vijayanathan
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Sebastian Valdivieso
PRODUCTION DESIGNER Javier Bonafont
COSTUME DESIGN Jana Zek
SOUND DESIGN Shreyank Nanjappa
SOUND MIXING Morgan Honaker
ORIGINAL MUSIC Nicolas Guerrero
COLORIST Mahak Gupta
CO-PRODUCERS Mary-Elizabeth Esquibel, Nicole Chi Amen
LINE PRODUCERS Arturo Jimenez, Maggie Bailey
GRADING STUDIO Bridge PostWorks
THESIS SUPERVISORS Anne Lewis, Lalitha Gopalan, Don Howard
AWARDS
GRAND PRIZE 28th Annual DGA Student Film Awards (West Coast Asian American Category)
SHORTLIST 2023 Yugo BAFTA Student Awards (Live Action Category)
GRAND JURY PRIZE 21st Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (Short Film Category)
SPECIAL JURY PRIZE 22nd International Student Film and Video Festival of Beijing Film Academy
RELEASED ON
Festivals
WORLD PREMIERE 15th International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala (4th August to 9th August 2023)
SOUTH AMERICAN PREMIERE 10th International Film Festival for Human Rights Colombia (10th August to 17th August 2023)
EUROPEAN PREMIERE 6th Nòt Film Fest (22nd August to 27th August 2023)
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE 12th International South Asian Film Festival Canada (28th September to 1st October 2023)
US PREMIERE 21st Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (11th October to 15th October 2023)
SEATTLE PREMIERE 18th Tasveer Film Festival (16th October to 22nd October 2023)
ONTARIO PREMIERE 12th International Film Festival of South Asia Toronto (17th October to 22nd October 2023)
INDONESIAN PREMIERE 3rd Jakarta Film Week (25th October to 29th October 2023)
NEW YORK PREMIERE 12th Workers Unite! Film Festival (1st November to 10th November 2023)
CHINA PREMIERE 22nd International Student Film and Video Festival of Beijing Film Academy (17th November to 24th November 2023)
CROATIAN PREMIERE 10th Student International Film Festival (22nd November to 26th November 2023)
WASHINGTON DC PREMIERE 12th DC South Asian Film Festival (1st December to 3rd December 2023)
NEPAL PREMIERE 11th Nepal Human Rights International Film Festival (9th December to 12th December 2023)
PUNE PREMIERE 10th Smita Patil International Film Festival (6th January to 7th January 2024)
Supported By
Panavision New Filmmaker Program Equipment Grant
Moody Innovation Grant for Thesis Film at UT Austin