SAILA KARIAT

WRITER/DIRECTOR/PRODUCER

Saila, a filmmaker, writer, and entrepreneur pursued a career as an electrical engineer and builder while dreaming of filmmaking and writing. After obtaining her Ph.D. in electrical engineering, Saila worked as an engineer, manager, and marketeer at IBM and at a start-up. She also founded a residential construction company, Mukti Properties.  She pursued her education in film in parallel, obtaining a degree in Film from San Jose State University, where she was valedictorian of the class of 2008.

 Saila wrote, directed and co-produced The Valley, the story of an entrepreneur who seeks answers after the suicide of his daughter.  The Valley was in twenty film festivals and won best feature film in four festivals, notably being invited to the Mumbai Film Festival.  Her other feature screenplays include Gods and Demons, a drama about an idealistic woman doctor,  Love in the Time of Corona, a romantic comedy about an unlikely couple, Release, a drama about a middle-aged divorcee who deals with her loneliness and alcoholism after her only daughter goes away to college, Gray, a drama about a black man and white woman trapped together through a tense and dangerous ordeal and Jesus Land, an adaptation of the Julia Scheeres memoir of the same name.

 Saila is a very hands-on filmmaker and has been involved with all aspects of production. She raised all the funds for The Valley through private investors. Having worked as a manager at a large firm as well as run her own small business for eight years, she has excellent skills in management and operations.  She was involved in all aspects of pre-production, production and post production; she worked on location scouting, procuring locations, insurance and title clearance, casting, managing crew, budgeting, production management, SAG bureaucracy, all responsibilities of directing including creating a shot list, working with actors, editing, working with sound engineers, music, working with title designers, bookkeeping, tax preparation etc.  As an independent producer, she has worn just about every hat possible.  

 Saila lives with her husband in the San Francisco Bay Area and is the proud parent of two amazing grown daughters – one an artist and the other a musician.