Nisha Ligon

Nisha Ligon is a Thai-American documentary filmmaker. She began making short films and documentaries while in high school. Her short documentary "Sunday at Smith's: A Soccer Ethnography" explores the tribalism of the fanatical overseas fans of English Premier League football and the New York bar where they congregate. The film won the first bi-annual Heider award for Best Ethnographic Film from the Yale Anthropology Department. Her subsequent short film, "Risk", explored the meaning of risk, from ordinary risks of daily life to the existential risks of urban terrorism and "the Singularity". "Risk" won the "Best Documentary Short" award at the Landlocked Film Festival in 2009 and Howard Lamar Prize for best graduation film at Yale. Nisha's first feature length documentary, "Twiga Stars: Tanzania's Soccer Sisters" explores the devotion, struggles, and triumphs of female professional athletes in one of the world's poorest nations. It premiered at the Africa International Film Festival, and was an official selection at the Vail Film Festival, Thin Line Film Festival, Palm Beach Women's Film Festival, Africa Documentary Festival, San Diego Black Film Festival and many others.