Ivan Ayr grew up in northern India. Despite receiving a degree in Electrical Engineering, he pursued postgraduate studies in the United States in English literature as well as screenwriting and directing. At the San Francisco Film Society he wrote and directed his first short film Lost and Found (2014). His second short Quest for a Different Outcome (2015) won Best Short Film at San Jose International Short Film Festival. Soni is Ayr’s feature directorial debut and was one of the five films selected by India’s National Film Development Corporation to be part of the prestigious ‘Work in Progress’ Lab at Film Bazaar, where it was mentored by French editor Jacques Comets and veteran festival director Marco Mueller.
The Asia Pacific Screen Academy expresses its respect for and acknowledgement of the South East Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. We pay our respects to the Traditional Owners of country, including the custodial communities on whose land works are created and celebrated by the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. We acknowledge the continuing connection to land, waters and communities. We also pay our respects to Elders, past and present. We recognise the integral role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and First Nations peoples continue to play in storytelling and celebration spaces.
