Shalini Kantayya | USA
91 min | Full Captions
Dissecting one of the most influential platforms of the contemporary social media landscape, TikTok, Boom. examines the algorithmic, socio-political, economic, and cultural influences and impact of the history-making app. This exploration of TikTok balances a genuine interest in the community and its innovative mechanics with a healthy skepticism around the security issues, global political challenges, and racial biases behind the platform. A cast of Gen Z subjects, helmed by influencer Feroza Aziz, remains at its center, making this one of the most needed and empathetic films exploring what it means to be a digital native.
DIRECTOR BIO
Shalini Kantayya
Filmmaker Shalini Kantayya’s, Coded Bias, premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival to critical acclaim and is now streaming on Netflix. Coded Bias was broadcast nationally on PBS Emmy-award winning series Independent Lens and was certified 100% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. The film won a Social Impact Media Award for Best Director, and has been nominated for a Critics’ Choice, a Cinema Eye Honors, and NAACP Image Award, among others. Shalini’s debut feature, Catching the Sun, premiered at the LA Film Festival and was named a NY Times Critics’ Pick. Catching the Sun released globally on Netflix on Earth Day 2016 with Executive Producer Leonardo DiCaprio, and was nominated for the Environmental Media Association Award for Best Documentary. She directed the season finale of the National Geographic television series Breakthrough, Executive Produced by Ron Howard, broadcast globally in June 2017. She has also directed for NOVA and YouTube Originals. Shalini is a TED Fellow, a William J. Fulbright Scholar, and an Associate of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.