Shabani Hassanwalia is a writer and a filmmaker, working with image making, research, and narratives for twenty-five years. Her work engages with changing socio-political realities, volatile subcultures, and intimate personal histories in an India-in-transition.

For eleven years, she was part of the core editorial team for First City Magazine, an arts and culture monthly that helped shape New Delhi’s relationship with itself. Additionally, she co-produced, directed, and edited feature-length documentary films that travelled to national and international festivals, and aired on various channels. Her feature documentaries include Being Bhaijaan (2014), Gali (2017), and Out of Thin Air (2009), which played on MUBI and multiple national and international festivals. 

She is an INLAKS Fellow, and worked at the Sundance Institute, Los Angeles, and the Documentary Filmmakers Group, London, as part of the fellowship.

She is currently the chief editor and producer for the feminist think tank The Third Eye, powered by Nirantar, Centre for Gender and Education. She develops knowledge through feminist processes, in film, video, audio, and text formats. The Third Eye is read by over two lakh readers across the rural-urban spectrum.