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Reena Shah is a multidisciplinary artist and nonfiction producer currently leading fundraising and supporting story development for Neelu Bhuman’s documentary feature CHIRAKU (Wing): The Adam Harry Story.
Her producing credits include SEEMA: The Film, a 20-minute Australian short created without dialogue that addresses domestic violence through an embodied, experiential approach. Developed from lived experiences, the film reflects Shah’s commitment to responsible filmmaking grounded in dignity, consent, and respect.
Shah is actively expanding her practice as a lead nonfiction producer and is in the early stages of helping to shape and manage a documentary film fund in-development with her brother, executive producer Deepen Shah (The Librarians, Beyond Utopia).
Her producing sensibility has been informed by proximity to large-scale, mission-driven work across live performance, film, television, documentaries, commercials, and live music & dance events.
Narrating the PBS Independent Lens documentary A Dream in Doubt (about the first post-9/11 hate crime murder and its impact on Sikh Americans) sharpened Shah’s understanding of how voice, context, and responsibility intersect in nonfiction storytelling and helped shape a producing path centered on work rooted in respect and accountability to the communities represented.
On stage, Shah portrayed Mukhtar Mai, a Pakistani woman who survived a gang rape ordered by a village council and later became an international advocate for girls’ education and gender justice, in SEVEN, the internationally staged documentary play rooted in firsthand testimony and the lived experiences of seven women human rights activists worldwide presented by Vital Voices Global Partnership and Diane von Furstenberg at the Women’s Forum for the Economy & Society (Deauville, France), Goldman Sachs Diversity Week (London), and New York venues The Women’s Project and La MaMa Theater. These global performances offered Shah firsthand insight into how advocacy-aligned projects are funded, toured, and sustained through institutional partnerships and philanthropy.
Her work as an actress in the HBO Max’s anthology series, Reframed: Next Gen Narratives (S1:E5) The Adventures of Robin Hood, developed through the Warner Bros. Discovery Access Program supporting emerging filmmakers reimagining classic Warner Bros. films rewritten for modern times with diverse casts, sharpened her approach to narrative framing, adaptation, and collaboration within institutional production environments.
Her on-screen work in feature films India Sweets & Spices, American Chai, Sita Sings the Blues, Stay Until Tomorrow, and ASHES reflects a continued engagement with stories of identity, migration, & female perspective. Reena’s experience as an actress in HBO Max’s Julia (about Julia Child - S1.E3) informed her approach to tonal continuity and research-driven, long-form storytelling.
Reena was also a founding member of the pop-rock band My Pet Dragon that had its song Love Anthem on the Occupy This! Album which is a collection of global protest and resistance songs, aligning closely with movements for social justice, labor rights, and anti-authoritarian resistance.
For the past three years, she has served as emcee for the India Home Fundraising Gala, helping raise over $500,000 through live pledge drives for South Asian senior housing and community services in Queens, New York.
Shah is a graduate of New York University (Communication Studies with a concentration in Mass Media & Society) and is a member of the Screen Actors Guild, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, and the Actors’ Equity Association (AEA), bringing a talent-facing perspective to producing across creative teams and institutions. Reena continues to align herself with projects that challenge systems of power, amplify silenced voices, and advocate for dignity, equity, and human rights. Her life mantra is: Rock On with Peace, Love, & Respect Always