Urmila Janardan

Urmila is a documentarian, organizer, and researcher, interested in understanding systems of oppression and documenting the people building alternatives. They have worked as a production assistant since 2019 and are in post-production of their first short film, “Ma Granite” (working title). The film follows a group of climbers in Hyderabad, India for three months as they fight to preserve their local crag from illegal encroachment. As an organizer, Urmila is a member of Ward 1 Mutual Aid—a community-led effort to take care of each other and keep DC as safe as possible; as well as Libereaders—a Black and radical mutual aid library that distributes free literature. As a policy researcher, they work to understand and mitigate the ways technology and automated decision-making can materially harm people. Urmila performs improv at the Washington Improv Theater and enjoys forging, cooking and swimming at Banneker pool.