The People Behind the Films
Meet the documentary filmmakers and storytellers of Aurora's Eye Films.
Our Mission
Aurora’s Eye Films is an independent documentary studio based in Auroville, India. We create films that explore people, place, culture, consciousness and our relationship with the world around us. Through intimate, human-centred storytelling, we seek out voices and perspectives that are often overlooked — creating films that invite curiosity, conversation and a deeper understanding of one another.
Integrity
We approach every story with sensitivity, honesty and respect for the people who trust us with their experiences.
Creativity
We bring together image, sound, music and observation to create films that are cinematic, thoughtful and emotionally engaging.
HUMAN CONNECTION
We create films that open conversations, build understanding and connect people across cultures, communities and experiences.
Serena Aurora
Serena Aurora is the founder of Aurora’s Eye Films, an independent documentary studio based in Auroville, India. With over 15 years of experience in filmmaking and visual storytelling, her work explores human experience, community, culture, consciousness and our relationship with the world around us. Her approach is rooted in listening and creating space for people to speak openly about their lives, experiences and perspectives. From documenting Auroville and its evolving human experiment to exploring healing, social issues and remote communities across India, her films seek out stories and voices that might otherwise remain unheard. At the heart of her work is a belief that storytelling can deepen understanding — and that understanding can become a starting point for change.
Michelle
Michelle is an educator, photographer and visual storyteller working at the intersection of documentary film, education and alternative ways of living and learning. With a background in alternative pedagogies and photography, she is particularly drawn to communities, schools and environments where new approaches to education and human connection are emerging. Through her camera, Michelle looks for the quiet details that reveal the relationship between people, place and culture, bringing sensitivity and curiosity to the stories she helps document.
Vilakshan
Vilakshan is a composer for film and visual media whose work moves between orchestral, minimalist and atmospheric sound worlds. With a background in classical guitar and contemporary composition, he combines acoustic instrumentation with subtle electronic textures to create music with emotional clarity, space and depth. His approach values silence, pacing and narrative sensitivity as much as melody, making him particularly drawn to intimate and visually driven films where music can help shape the emotional and psychological world of a story.
Kseniia
Kseniia is a sound designer working across documentary film, animation and visual media. Her experience spans location sound, Foley, ADR, dialogue editing, mixing and creative sound design. Having lived and worked in different countries, she brings a broad range of cultural and creative influences to her approach. Now based in India, Kseniia is interested in creating sound worlds that feel authentic, expressive and alive — using sound not simply as a technical layer, but as an important part of how an audience experiences a story.
Shinu
Shinu is a film editor with a strong instinct for rhythm, pacing and visual storytelling. Working with documentary footage, he brings structure and clarity to complex material, finding the moments, connections and emotional beats that allow a story to emerge. His editing style is clean and considered, with every cut serving the wider narrative rather than drawing attention to itself. He brings patience and precision to the process of transforming hours of footage into cohesive and engaging films.
Venkatesh
Venkatesh is an award-winning cinematographer with a strong eye for composition, light and colour. His work combines technical precision with a sensitive observational approach, creating images that feel cinematic without losing the authenticity of the people and places being documented. From intimate interviews to landscapes and unfolding real-life moments, Venkatesh uses the camera to strengthen the emotional world of each story and has contributed his distinctive visual language to a number of Aurora’s Eye Films productions.
Kardash
Kardash is a sound designer focused on creating rich, natural and immersive soundscapes for documentary film. Working closely with dialogue, atmosphere, environmental sound and the subtle details often hidden within a scene, he helps create a sense of place that extends beyond the image. His work with Aurora’s Eye Films is particularly connected to the acoustic world of Auroville, capturing and shaping sound in a way that allows audiences to experience not only how a place looks, but how it feels.