KAVI - Oscar-Nominated Short Film (FULL FILM) | 100+ Festivals & 50+ Awards | India/Hindi

Tue, 18 Nov 2025 15:43:44 +0000

Thanks for subscribing & sharing your comments! KAVI is a young boy in India who wants to play cricket and go to school, but instead he’s forced to make bricks as a modern-day slave. NOTE: Play at full volume or use headphones

Over 100+ festivals worldwide and 50+ awards.

"KAVI tugs at the heartstrings." - ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
"Remarkably incisive and moving. " - THE LOS ANGELES TIMES
"A highly sophisticated and gripping film." - Randal Kleiser, Director of GREASE
"I was stunned by the realism... KAVI was moving, heartbreaking, and even beautiful" - Kevin Tent, Editor of SIDEWAYS, THE DESCENDANTS, NEBRASKA, ABOUT SCHMIDT
“KAVI is intimate and visually beautiful. Itʼs both a socially and dramatically powerful film -- two elements that rarely come together in short films.” -- Thomas Ethan Harris, veteran festival programmer

KAVI is Gregg Helvey's USC thesis film that won the Student Academy Award gold medal for Best Narrative Short Film, and then got nominated for an Oscar in the Best Live Action category. In addition to playing at 100+ film festivals around the world, KAVI has been used by many anti-slavery organizations to raise awareness and fundraise to help end slavery (IJM, CAST, Dalit Freedom Network, etc). KAVI was also used in California Senate to help pass The Transparency in Supply Chains Bill (SB657) for Anti-slavery & Human Trafficking.

Gregg spent several years screening the film, partnering with anti-slavery organizations and speaking about modern-day slavery. The film has been screened for schools, churches, synagogues, law enforcement, governments and other organizations as an educational, inspirational and motivational movie to help viewers (ranging from children to adults) understand and empathize with the social justice issue of child slavery/bonded-labor slavery.

It was shot entirely on location in India, in Hindi (although Gregg, the writer/director, does not speak Hindi). The location was 4 hours east of Mumbai in Wai, India, near Pune. It has been praised by Indian audiences as a powerful movie that does justice to the pressing issue child labor and indentured servitude.

www.ScriptAccelerator.com
www.KaviTheMovie.com
www.GreggHelvey.com
Twitter: @ghelvey
Instagram: @3Ghelvey

Written, directed by: Gregg Helvey
Starring: Sagar Salunke, Ulhas Tayade, Rajesh Kumar, Madhavi Juvekar, Debu Bhattacharya, Rishi Raj Singh, Mukesh Barahti
Produced by: Gregg Helvey, Guneet Monga, Harish Amin
Director of Photography: John Harrison
Editor: Chris Witt
Sound Design: Gentry Smith
Production Design: Digoo Talekar
Music by: Patrick Kirst & Paul Livingstone
USC Mentor: Bruce Block (SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE, WHAT WOMEN WANT)
Sound Mentor: Kevin O'Connell (TENET, HACKSAW RIDGE, TOMBSTONE, FIELD OF DREAMS, TOP GUN, STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK)
Casting Mentor: Uma Da Cunha (MONSOON WEDDING, LAGAAN, WATER, KAMA SUTRA)

Some Awards & Festivals Include:
• 2010 Academy Awards - Nominated, Best Live Action Short Film
• Student Academy Awards - Winner, Gold Medal for best short narrative
• Student Emmy Award + Academy of Television ATAS Bricker Humanitarian Award
• U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs
• Pixar University screening & guest speaker
• Cannes Short Film Corner
• Palm Springs Shortsfest - Best of Fest
• Indian Film Festival of LA - Audience Award
• USC School of Cinematic Arts (SCA) First Look - Best Director, Best Cinematography (USC SCA Thesis Film)
• Cinequest - Best Student Film
• USA Film Festival - Grand Jury Prize
• Aspen Shorts - Youth Jury Grand Jury Prize
• Hatch Fest - Best Director, Best Short Movie
• Sedona Film Festival - Director's Choice Award
• Festival Of Political Cinema (FiCIP) – Buenos Aires, Argentina (Best Short Film)
• Ojai Film Fest (Winner – Panavision Award – Best Student Film)
• Damascus Int'l Film Festival – Syria
• Int'l Film Festival for Children and Young People - Armenia - Human Rights Award
• Sapporo Shorts Fest – Japan – Peace Award
• Lucasfilm – Frankfurt, Germany, Winner – Best Short Film
• Tehran Int'l Short Film Festival – Iran
• South Asian Int'l Film Fest (Winner – Audience Award) – New York
• Heartland Film Festival (Winner- Crystal Heart)
• Middle East Int’l Film Festival – Abu Dhabi, U.A.E
• Louisville Film Festival (Winner – Best Short Film)
• Kenya Int'l Film Festival – Nairobi
• Circuito OFF Venice Short Film Festival (Winner – Best International Film) – Venice, Italy
• Phoenix Christian Film Fest (Social Justice Film Award)
• Windsong Film Festl (Best Social Justice Movie)
• Omaha Film Festival (Best Cinematography)
• Sonoma Film Fest (Audience Award)
• Modern-Day Abolitionist Award - (Coalition Against Slavery and Trafficking)

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