Kartiki Gonsalves

Some Lesser Known Facts About Kartiki Gonsalves

• Kartiki Gonsalves is an Indian filmmaker and wildlife photographer. She made headlines on 13 March 2023 after she received an Oscar for directing the short film The Elephant Whisperers (2022).

• Kartiki began developing an interest in photography while she was on a tour to Europe, where she took her parents point and shoot Minolta camera. She started taking photos on advanced cameras such as Canon EOS TI and Fuji Finepix after completing her graduation.

• From September 2008 to July 2009, Kartiki worked as a design and photography consultant with IIT Madras Foundation.

• In July 2009, she was employed by Fabindia Overseas Pvt Ltd in Bengaluru. There, she worked as a store manager till February 2010.

• Later, she left her job at Fabindia and began working as an assistant at a gym in Bengaluru.

• At Zela Luxury Health Clubs in Bengaluru, she worked as a design and photography executive/customer service executive from February 2010 to November 2010.

• From August 2011 to September 2014, Kartiki was employed by Black Coffee Advertising. There, she worked as an art director and photographer.

• In August 2014, she was employed by a Bengaluru-based company named Fisheye Creative Solutions. There, she worked as a senior art director till October 2015.

• She became the ambassador of CoalitionWILD in September 2016.

• In April 2018, she started working as an artisan of imagery at Sony.

• After establishing the Earth Spectrum, a platform which raises awareness about nature and culture, in Mumbai, Kartiki Gonsalves became its director of operations on 31 December 2018.

• Kartiki was appointed by Wildcraft India as its brand ambassador in January 2019.

• Peak Design appointed her as its ambassador in January 2020.

• Kartiki began working with an Austrian company named Swarovski Optik in 2021. It produces and sells optical sights and other types of optical equipment around the globe.

• In an interview, Kartiki said that she began learning how to work on different types of video recording equipment while she was working as a videographer in a documentary that was being shot in Uttarakhand.

  

• Thereafter, she worked as one of the camerapersons for The Asiatic Black Bear, an episode from a National Geographic series titled On The Brink.

  

• To pursue a career in filmmaking, she left her job and began working as a tour guide in Bengaluru. While giving an interview, she said that she decided to shift from wildlife photography to filmmaking as she believed that wildlife photography had no prospect of growth in India. Talking about it, she said,
  

  I ventured into advertising after my post-graduation. I eventually quit to pursue wildlife and social documentary photography, working as a tour guide to support myself financially. But I soon realized that photography in the area I was interested in did not have much scope In India at this time. I realized filmmaking was a tool that I could use to reach out to the world… I believe that strong imagery has the power to change minds.”

• On 13 March 2023, she won an Oscar for directing The Elephant Whisperers. She shared the award with the film’s producer Guneet Monga. The film was based on the relationship between the mahouts, Bomman and Bellie, and their elephants, Raghu and Bommi (aka Ammu). While giving a speech after winning the Oscar, she said,
  

  I stand here today to speak on the sacred bond between us and our natural world. For the respect of indigenous communities. For entity towards other living beings, we share our space with. And finally for co-existence. Thank you to the academy for recognizing our film highlighting indigenous people and animals. To Netflix for believing in the power of this film. To Guneet my Producer and my entire team and finally, to my mother father and sister who are up there somewhere, you’re the centre of my universe. To my motherland India.”

  

• After winning the Oscar, in an interview, she said that her next film would showcase the relationship shared between an Orca (a killer whale) and its handler.

• Kartiki Gonsalves loves animals and has two dogs and a cat. One of her dogs’ names is Rusty. The other dog is a Belgian Malinois named Delani.

  

• Kartiki has written and published articles for The Hindu, National Geographic, and more. In 2020, she published an article, The Places In-Between, on her website, which covers the lifestyle of residents of Turtuk, a village in Kashmir, near the India-Pakistan border.

  

• Her favourite cinematographers include Emmanuel Lubezki, Terrence Malick, Louie Psihoyos, Orlando von Einsiedel, Jeff Orlowski, David Attenborough. Gabriela Cowperthwaite, and Ron Fricke.

• On 9 May 2023, MS Dhoni presented personalised jerseys to Kartiki Gonsalves and Bomman and Bellie of The Elephant Whisperers fame at M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, in Chennai.