About

Lakshmi Padmanabhan is an assistant professor in the department of Radio, TV, Film at Northwestern University. Their current academic book project, Documentary Degree Zero, examines the aesthetics of realism in independent documentary and the failed dreams of decolonization in India from the 1970s to the present.

Padmanabhan is the editor of the volume Forms of Errantry on the films of Miryam Charles. Their academic writing has appeared in journals including Art History, Camera Obscura, Cultural Critique, JCMS, Women & Performance, and New Review of Film and Television. Their essays, criticism and reviews have been published in n+1, e-flux, Seen, Public Books, Jewish Currents, and Post45.

They have also curated experimental film and video art at venues including e-flux screening room, DocLisboa, Block Museum, BRIC Arts and Magic Lantern Cinema, in Providence, RI.

Padmanabhan earned their Ph.D. in Modern Culture and Media at Brown University and was a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Society of Fellows at Dartmouth College from 2018-2020.