The oldest daughter of a New York City taxi driver has dreams of becoming a doctor. Can the future still hold surprises even when her life has been planned for her since the age of eight?

'Lucky' is a 15-minute experimental animated documentary short that follows the real life of Lucky Kaur in the United States and in India from 2001 to 2018.

Lucky comes from a religious Sikh family that takes pride in its rich Punjabi heritage. Despite only having come to Brooklyn, New York from India at the age of sixteen, Lucky learns English rapidly, excels at school, and starts to cultivate some very modern American ambitions.

When her arranged marriage inches ever closer, Lucky must walk a tightrope between two cultures, as fate and tradition threaten to take her decisions away little by little.

Lucky lives her life trying to simultaneously honor two very different world views until dramatic circumstances force her to finally choose between religions and cultures.

"Lucky" is currently in production and is set to be completed in 2019. I am an independent animator and artist who uses a combination of hand-painted digital images, paintings, photographs, audio interviews, and actual video footage to create my narratives.

I originally made an early video version of Lucky's story back in 2006 that screened in several international film festivals. However, I wanted to rework and update the story as well as completely redo the visuals as animation.

In April of 2018 Lucky approached me via email asking if I would continue telling her story and show her current life as an evangelical Christian preacher in an African American church in South Carolina. It was the same week my university, American University of Myanmar was forced to close for political and financial reasons. I said yes.

This film aims to highlight the tragedy of what happens when bright, young people are denied an education and how they can move forward despite facing seemingly insurmountable obstacles.