Mridu Chandra
Director & Producer
Mridu Chandra is a BAFTA- and Emmy-nominated filmmaker and producer of award-winning documentaries and fiction films that have premiered at Sundance, Telluride, and SXSW; aired on PBS, HBO, Disney+, and Netflix; and screened for members of U.S. Congress and the United Nations. Most recently, she produced BECOMING COUSTEAU (BAFTA nominated for Best Documentary) for two-time Oscar nominee Liz Garbus and co-produced CURED (Emmy nominated for Best Research) directed by Bennett Singer and Patrick Sammon. Her expertise as an archival media researcher and clearance specialist has additionally served numerous other documentaries (WHOSE STREETS?, BROTHER OUTSIDER: THE LIFE OF BAYARD RUSTIN), fiction films (STEVE JOBS directed by Danny Boyle) and Broadway productions (BETRAYAL directed by Mike Nichols). She launched a film fund and distribution initiative to support the professional development and increased visibility of filmmakers worldwide as the founding director of IF/Then Shorts at Tribeca Film Institute, a program now at Field of Vision. SAUND vs. COCHRAN marks her directorial debut.
National Advisory Board
Members of the National Advisory Board for SAUND vs COCHRAN provide subject-matter guidance during the development, production, and post-production phases of the project.
Anthony S. Chen, PhD is Associate Professor of Sociology and Political Science at Northwestern University, where he is also a Faculty Fellow at the Institute for Policy Research. His scholarship focuses on American political development, public policy, civil rights, social policy, and the development of public institutions in the United States from the New Deal onward.
Hardeep Dhillon, PhD is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania and core faculty in the Asian American Studies Program. Her research focuses on immigration to the United States and the federal laws and legal practices that shaped citizenship, naturalization, alienage, and legal status.
Katherine Landdeck, PhD is Professor of History at Texas Woman’s University and the author of The Women with Silver Wings. She is a leading historian of the Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II and brings deep expertise on Jacqueline Cochran’s aviation career, wartime leadership, and public life.
Catherine Rymph, PhD is Dean of the Honors College and Professor of History at the University of Missouri. She specializes in recent U.S. history, policy history, U.S. women’s political history, American conservatism, and the history of the Republican Party.
Nayan Shah, PhD is Professor of American Studies and Ethnicity and History at the University of Southern California. His scholarship focuses on U.S. history, Asian American history, immigration, citizenship, legal history, public health history, and the North American West.
Seema Sohi, PhD is Associate Professor of Asian American Studies in the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder and a faculty affiliate in the Department of History. Her scholarship focuses on Asian American history, South Asian American history, citizenship, U.S.-Asia relations, and the international context surrounding Dalip Singh Saund’s election to Congress.
