Ambika Subra
Screenwriter, Founder, Set Designer, Art Director, Graphic Artist, Storyteller
Based in Mexico City and New York, Ambika has worked across various fields – from film/television to contemporary art, metaphysics, design, and complex systems. Most of her research focuses on cross-industry interconnectedness and horizontal, decentralized networks. She studied film, architecture, and philosophy at Washington University in St. Louis and Chelsea College of Art and Design, London.
As a set designer, art director, and graphic artist, her work can be seen in Aaron Sorkin’s “Trial of the Chicago 7”, AppleTV’s “WeCrashed,” and many more. She was also one of the 5 artists behind the collective Badlands Unlimited, founded by MacArthur Genius Grant recipient Paul Chan. After developing a proposal for a technological-creative hub between Hudson Yards (NY) and the disruption-thinktank RethinkX, Ambika extended a similar concept of multidiscilinary collaboration into the film industry. She has since co-founded Tocaya Films alongside director Monica G. Carter in Mexico City. A film production and creative studio, Tocaya creates a new model of interconnected narrative production – making commercials, audio-visual mixed-media (digital and live), and feature films, but through partnerships with seed-stage start-ups that are utilizing disruptive technologies. In a 3-part model between investors, creators, and tech, Tocaya’s community becomes a multi-beneficial platform of storytelling.