TikTok, Boom.
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 rigorous exploration balances a genuine interest in the TikTok 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.
Shalini Kantayya is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker who directs fiction and nonfiction films that artfully marry the future of science with the future of story. Her latest film, "TikTok, Boom", was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and was official selection at SXSW. Her critically-acclaimed 2020 Sundance film, "Coded Bias", was broadcast nationally on PBS’s Independent Lens and globally on Netflix in April 2021. The film has been nominated for a Critics’ Choice, and an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Documentary. The film won Best Director at the Social Impact Media Awards, and the Visionary Filmmaker Award at GlobeDocs. Shalini’s debut feature, "Catching the Sun", released globally on Netflix on Earth Day 2016 with Executive Producer Leonardo DiCaprio and was named a New York Times Critics’ Pick.
Shalini directed for National Geographic television series "Breakthrough", Executive Produced by Ron Howard, and episodes for NOVA and YouTube Originals. Shalini is a TED Fellow, a William J. Fulbright Scholar, and Concordia Studios Artist Fellow. She is an Associate of the UC Berkeley School of Journalism.
Filmography
Catching the Sun (2015, doc), Breakthrough (2017, doc), Coded Bias (2020, doc), Nova (2021, doc), TikTok, Boom. (2022, doc)
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