Deepa Mehta,

The Reykjavik International Film Festival is privileged to have Mehta as an honorary guest in 2016. Mehta is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. She was born in Amritsar, India in 1950 and attended the University of New Delhi, graduating with a Masters degree in Philosophy before immigrating to Canada in 1973. Mehta has received international acclaim for her moving and provocative films, which often explore issues of human rights and social injustice. She is perhaps best known for her epic ‘Elements trilogy’ - Fire (1996), Earth (1998) and Water (2005). The latter was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. She is also well known for her other features including ‘Sam and Me’ (1991), ‘Bollywood/Hollywood’ (2002), ‘The Republic of Love’ (2003), ‘Heaven on Earth’ (2008), ‘Midnight's Children’ (2012), and ‘Beeba Boys’ (2015). Mehta received the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement, the Order of Ontario and Queen’s Jubilee Medal. She was made an Officer of the Order of Canada for ‘challenging cultural traditions and bringing stories of oppression, injustice and violence to the fore’.