Leena Pendharkar is an Emmy nominated, Award-Winning Director and Writer. Her work as a writer/director in independent film has been called, "heartfelt," "ground breaking," and "brave." She is passionate about telling cinematic stories that explore the human experience through compelling characters, and loves working collaboratively with actors and other creatives.

 

She recently completed principal photography on her her third independent feature film, Days with Dandekar, starring Iqbal Theba (Glee). Her screenplay for Days with Dandekar was part of the Film Independent Screenwriting Lab, and Tribeca All Access. She is now in post production on the film.

 

Leena premiered her sophomore feature film, 20 Weeks, at the Los Angeles Film Festival. 20 Weeks played in festivals all over the country, won the Best Feature Film Award at the Maryland Film Festival, the Best Editing Award at the Tallgrass Film Festival, and was selected as one of the best independent films of 2017 by Film Threat, and was described as an “intimate, compassionate take on abortion” by the Los Angeles Times. It was distributed in theaters and on Hulu, and is now available on a number of platforms.

 

In television, she directed the movie, A Date with Deception for Mar Vista/Lifetime, and episodes of Hello Jack! for Apple TV Plus, for which she was nominated for a Children’s and Family Emmy award. Leena is also an alum of the Warner Brothers, CBS, and Sony Diverse Directors programs.

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Other recent work includes the short film, Tiny Joy, which played in the Bentonville Film Festival and many others.  Her previous short film, Awaken, starring Parminder Nagra, is also now playing on Omeleto and Shorts TV. Her short film, Dandekar Makes a Sandwich, won the Grand Jury Prize at the Indian Film Festival of LA, and was selected as a Vimeo Staff pick.
 

Raspberry Magic, Leena's first indie feature, a coming of age story about a young girl trying to hold her family together amidst financial hardships, played in many festivals, was distributed on Hulu and Starz, and is now available on Apple TV+, Amazon Prime and other platforms.

Leena is an Associate Professor at Loyola Marymount University's School of Film and Television, where she teaches filmmaking. She has an MFA in Screenwriting/Playwriting from UC-Riverside Palm Desert, and is a member of the DGA. She is represented by Michael Kolodny at The Kaplan Stahler Literary Agency and Dannie Festa at World Builder Entertainment.​