Dot & Feather Entertainment — films by Rohit Gupta, the FFTG Awards and Film Festivals To Go
Four films of his own.
Two he joined later.
Four films by Rohit Gupta, plus later work on Hawa Singh and Rocketry: The Nambi Effect.
Select a poster for the trailer, credits, awards, and where to watch.
Cannes SFC
Silent
2 records
Feature
National AwardNone of this
was the plan.
In 2008 Rohit Gupta joined a four-week workshop at the New York Film Academy, a film school in New York, then enrolled in its one-year filmmaking program.
His first short, Another Day, Another Life, began there as a student assignment. A four-week detour that never ended.
Click a year, or click the card to turn it.
Seven hours. Ten days.
Two nights.
Another Day, Another Life — one seven-hour guerrilla session, and the first thing he ever shot.
Life! Camera Action… — two people, ten days, and two national records certified by the Limca Book of Records.
Midnight Delight — thirteen actors, two nights, one smoking lounge. No locked script, and it opens on a stoned mouse rousing the jungle.
(these are the frames from inside — click any one to enlarge)
01The camera on the table before day one 
02Crouched at the tripod on the sidewalk 
03Talking a scene through at the camera 
04The street inside the viewfinder 
05Running lines between setups 
06Blocking a scene on the sidewalk 
07Over the pages, mid-shoot 
08Lit and ready inside
Swipe or scroll sideways · click a frame to enlarge
Midnight Delight
Thirteen actors · two nights · 2016Twenty-five frames from this shoot. They appear as a scrubbable reel once the page is interactive.
Life! Camera Action…
Two people · ten days · 2012the production
The dozen people on a Jersey City street in these frames were in front of the camera or lending a hand. The credited production team was Rohit Gupta and cinematographer Ravi Kumar R, and that is how the record names them.
Photographs from this stage of the production appear here once the page is interactive.
Fifty-two frames from this shoot. They appear as a scrubbable reel once the page is interactive.
Seven hours.
One short film.
Another Day, Another Life — the first thing he ever shot.
Four minutes of suspense, captured in a single seven-hour session on a Panasonic DVX100 and cut on a MacBook Pro, as a student exercise at the New York Film Academy.
The exercise went to the Short Film Corner at the Festival de Cannes, was selected by more than thirty festivals on four continents over the next four years, took thirteen wins — Best First Film at Swansea Bay and again in Thailand among them — and in 2014 was broadcast nationwide in India on NDTV Prime.
Before it there was Just Do It! — a one-minute mise-en-scène exercise, one take, no cuts, his first project at the Academy — polished and released in 2011. Even the homework shipped.
Animated, sung, scored,
and cut together.
A shoot is the short part. The fable that opens Midnight Delight is stop‑motion, animated frame by frame on the computer by co‑producer Saumin Mehta, who led the animated opening, VFX, and much of post-production.
Zaher Akahshli scored it. The voices were recorded separately, actors alone in a room talking to a mouse.
On Life! Camera Action… the song came first and the film was built around it, recorded with KK and Manoj Singh.
Co-producer Saumin Mehta led the animated opening, VFX, and much of post-production, working with composer Zaher Akahshli and the voice cast.
Two films, made two different ways — stop-motion animation for one, a song session for the other. Start with the one you’re curious about.
Midnight Delight
The animation · the voices · the scorePhotographs from this stage of the production appear here once the page is interactive.
The film opens on a fable of its own. A mouse goes through the jungle telling everyone to get up and make something of themselves — and one by one the lion, the elephant, the whole jungle, they get up and follow him.
Then they find out he was stoned. Stop‑motion, animated frame by frame — the work of co-producer Saumin Mehta, animator and VFX creative director, working with composer Zaher Akahshli and the voice cast.
Michael Lester voices the lion; Shaheed Woods the elephant and the mouse. These frames are stills from the film itself, not set photographs.
Photographs from this stage of the production appear here once the page is interactive.
Photographs from this stage of the production appear here once the page is interactive.
Photographs from this stage of the production appear here once the page is interactive.
Photographs from this stage of the production appear here once the page is interactive.
Life! Camera Action…
The song · the session · the cutKK sang it.
“Chalte Jaana Hain” — written by Rohit Gupta, composed by Manoj Singh, and sung by KK, one of the most loved playback voices India has had. Four minutes fifty-one. It won Best Song at the 28th Goldie Film Awards, the award going to KK and Manoj Singh.
A feature made by a two-person crew, with one of India’s most celebrated playback voices on its soundtrack.
Photographs from this stage of the production appear here once the page is interactive.
Photographs from this stage of the production appear here once the page is interactive.
Then people
started showing up.
One film at a time. World premiere at MIAAC New York, 2010 — then Washington DC, Jersey City, Florida and Mumbai.
Photographs from this stage of the production appear here once the page is interactive.
Photographs from this stage of the production appear here once the page is interactive.
Then it was
on a front page.
Rohit Gupta honored by the Limca Book of Records
Not a mention and not a listing — the lead story, above the fold. It ran both records in full: the first full-length motion picture shot by a two-member crew, Rohit Gupta and Ravi Kumar R, and the first film released through Facebook.
- “Over seventy international accolades” for Life! Camera Action… alone — and that was the count in January 2013, three years before Midnight Delight
- Top Nine Most Popular, and Board of Directors’ Special Award — 28th Goldie Film Awards
- Orson Welles Award · California International Film Awards
- Royal Reel Award · Canada International Film Festival
- Grand Jury Award · Oregon Film Awards
Silicon India listed it as one of the ten outstanding movies by an Indian-American filmmaker — on a list with The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable by M. Night Shyamalan, Mississippi Masala and The Namesake by Mira Nair, and Fire and Earth by Deepa Mehta.
SiliconIndia 10 Outstanding Movies by Indian American Film Makers 12 June 2012 · read the original article →The same listing is reported in the hi INDiA profile below: “Silicon India listed Life! Camera Action… (2012) as one of the 10 Outstanding Movies by Indian American filmmakers.”
The cuttings file · scanned originals
Then the papers kept writing.
- Accolades
- 100+
- Wins
- 50
- Nominations
- 30
- National records
- 2
- Continents
- 5
- Since
- 2008
Fifty wins and thirty nominations are documented in the published record. The tally across every festival runs past a hundred.
The record.
Fifty wins and thirty nominations are documented in the published record. A selected list appears below, with the complete record available through the source link.
First, the record.
Two national firsts,
set by the same film.
- 01The first full-length motion picture shot by a two-member crew — director-producer Rohit Gupta and Ravi Kumar R
- 02The first film released through Facebook — 20 July 2012
The certificate names both. The Indian Express ran them on its front page; the Times of India and Urban Asian reported the honor.
A crew of two and a release on Facebook were not a workaround for a missing budget — they were the point: proof that a feature film could be made, and find its audience, without a studio behind it.
The Indian Express ran both records on its front page, 10 January 2013. Read it in Chapter Five →
Then the festivals kept score.
Then the rooms he was asked into.
- 2010Guest speaker, Sensoria — Charlotte, North CarolinaCharlotte Business Journal
- 2011Special guest speaker, New York Film Academy open-house launch — Four Seasons, Mumbaivia Wikipedia
- 2012Honorary member, Global Artistic Advisory Board — World Music & Independent Film Festival, Washington D.C.Times of India
- 2012Invited speaker, Sensoria — Charlotte, North Carolinavia Wikipedia
- 2013Guest lecture on the management and creative aspects of filmmaking — Symbiosis International University, PuneUrban Asian
- 2014Shortlisted, NRI of the Year — Distinctive Global Achievement in Arts & Entertainment, Times NowUrban Asian
- 2014–16Jury member, three consecutive years — Charlotte 48 Hour Film Project48 Hour Film Project
- 2015Seminar speaker on Life! Camera Action… — Indian Institute of Management Bangalorevia Wikipedia
- 2015Seminar speaker to filmmaking and multimedia students — SAE Institute, DubaiDubai Post
- 2025Global Digital Film Festival of the Year, for the FFTG Awards Film Fest — LUXlife Creative & Visual Arts Awards, UKFFTG
And the marks they left.
Five things
built out of the detour.
Each one started because the last one made it necessary.
The production company · two features, two shorts · 2012 · founded by Rohit GuptaSee the filmography →
Film Festivals To GoFestival strategy for filmmakers · monetization across twenty platforms · 2017 · founded by Rohit Guptafilmfestivalstogo.com →
FFTG Awards®A digital film festival, born in lockdown when the world’s festivals went dark · sixth edition · Global Digital Film Festival of the Year, LUXlife UK 2025 · founded by Rohit Guptafftgawards.com →
Bekaar Bukwaas®The AI workshop, published as comedy · 2025 · founded by Rohit Gupta@bekaarbukwaas →
D&F StoreWear the feather · tees, prints, and pieces from the design room · 2026 · founded by Rohit Guptathednfstore.com →
Rohit Gupta.
He was not supposed to do any of this.
Filmmaker, founder, and the person who turned a four-week detour into four films, two national records, and five creative ventures.
An MBA in hand. A career already in the air and still climbing. And four weeks booked at the New York Film Academy, to get this film thing out of his system.
Little did he know. It did the opposite.
A student exercise. Four minutes long, shot in a single seven-hour session. It went to the Short Film Corner at Cannes, and to thirty festivals after that.
Was the first thing that traveled.
Two people. Ten days. Four thousand dollars. Two national records, and the front page of The Indian Express.
Each one came out of a problem he hit himself.
He chose four weeks. Everything else chose him.
- From
- A family of entrepreneurs
- Trained
- New York Film Academy, 2008
- Based
- New York
- Founded
- Dot & Feather Entertainment, 2012 — and its verticals: Film Festivals To Go, 2017 · FFTG Awards® Film Fest, 2020 · Bekaar Bukwaas®, 2025 · the D&F Store, 2026
From the cuttings file
It chose him · The story behind Dot & Feather
He never chose this.It chose him.
Since 2008. He chose four weeks. Everything else chose him.