Have a Nice Life (2021)

fiction

On two sides of Durham, North Carolina are two very different women: Jyothi, an Indian housewife in an arranged marriage, and Sophie, an unemployed stoner musician. When they both hit dead ends, they meet by chance in the discount firearms section of a pawn shop and hatch a half-baked plan to make a better life. It quickly backfires, and they soon find themselves on a wild, surreal journey on the road from North Carolina to Canada.

Starring Lucy Kaminsky & Jagathi Kamalakanthan

Writer & Director, Prashanth Kamalakanthan

Producer, Artemis Shaw

Cinematographer, Lasse Tolbøll

Production & Costume Design, Aaron Crosby & Santiago Laverde

Made with the support of Cinema Conservancy, NYU Tisch Graduate Film, and Duke Freewater Productions

Maryland Film Festival 2021, New Orleans Film Festival 2021, American Film Festival 2021, Bushwick Film Festival 2021, Cucalorus 2021, Bentonville Film Festival 2021

US in Progress Award Winner 2020; Winner, Programmers Choice Award, Bushwick Film Festival

  • Deadline: Poland’s American Film Festival Crowns U.S. Work In Progress & Festival Winners

  • Indy Week: For His Debut Feature, Filmmaker Prashanth Kamalakanthan Returned to the Places—And Person—He Knew Best

  • India-West: Indian American Filmmaker Prashanth Kamalakanthan’s Debut Film is a Road Trip Comedy ‘Have a Nice Life’

  • Duke Chronicle: Q&A: Duke alum Prashanth Kamalakanthan on creating his first feature film

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