Sanskriti means culture or heritage.
It is a feature documentary and a global adventure.

संस्कृति (Sanskriti)

Titled from the ancient Sanskrit word for heritage or culture, Sanskriti is a documentary filmed around the world, that captures the human experience in today's technological age. Following the lives of four young adults from China, Kenya, Finland, and the USA, the film chronicles the day-to-day experiences of Millennials coming of age in the digital era. Acting as a portrait of a generation, the film celebrates human progress, and encourages re-examination of our relationships with each other, with the world around us, and with our digital devices.

Liisi Kilpelä

Subject: Liisi Kilpelä

Liisi Kilpelä is a student living in Vantaa, Finland, and pursuing her Cambridge AICE Diploma, a rigorous English-language academic certification offered all over the world, which acts as a preparatory degree for higher studies. She plans to study Development Psychology at the university level.

She is engaged to a young woman from North Carolina, who she met online in a Yahoo chatroom, and recalls she was in love from the first day. It was a year before they met for the first time in person, and, after an extended visit in the summer of 2012, Liisi proposed. She plans to relocate to the US in the future, once she's reached a financial stability.

Matthew Bush

Subject: Matthew Bush

Matthew Bush is a User Experience web designer. He's always been fascinated with the idea of building something, tearing it apart, and making something new.

His views surrounding his work and the web experience is that things can always be better, and he is driven by the possibility of using technology to make our lives easier.

Mark Mwangi

Subject: Mark Mwangi

Mark Mwangi is a recent graduate of the University of Nairobi in Nairobi, Kenya, with a degree Geospatial Engineering. Each year, less than one hundred people graduate university with this degree in the entire country of Kenya.

Obsessed with space and technology from a young age, Mark is interested in technology and its confluence with the arts and human interest. He believes there is huge potential for technology to improve the standard of living of all, and is interested in working in tech towards this.

Yiran
Cai

Subject: Yiran Cai

Yiran Cai is a college student in Shanghai, China, studying English literature and linguistics. She is a contemporary technology consumer, and is constantly connected through her tablet, smartphone and computer.

She is excited about the rising use of technology for efficiency and instantaneous information-sharing, however, she finds our gwrappering dependence on technological tools a source of concern for the future of our cognitive abilities and interpersonal relationships.

About the Filmmakers

Melissa Balan (Director/Producer) has been obsessed with storytelling from a young age. She was heavily involved in theater and creative writing throughout childhood, before developing a love of cinema in her early teens. Struck with an overwhelming wanderlust, she has been globetrotting since the age of fourteen, and is continually inspired by each new culture she encounters. Melissa grew up in the suburbs of metro-Detroit Michigan before relocating east in 2008 to pursue filmmaking, graduating from NYU with a BFA in Film and Television Production in 2012. Sanskriti is her first post-graduate feature film, and she is thrilled to combine her two life's passions — filmmaking and travel — into one artistic venture.

Crew

Co Producer: Shibani Balsaver

Co Producer: Margaret Reville

Cinematographer: Zach Stoltzfus

Production Sound: Allistair Johnson, Max Mellman

Editor: Joanna Naugle

Executive Post Producer: Josh Senior

Post Production: Senior Post