Chithra Jeyaram is a director, producer, and editor who makes intimate films about identity, human relationships, race, art, and health. Her first exposure to filmmaking began with a failed attempt to fund a film about an explosive water-sharing dispute between two southern states in India. Deeply affected by that experience, she quit a decade-long career as a Physical Therapist and enrolled in film school. She has an M.F.A in film production from the University of Texas in Austin. 

Her short documentary Mijo, aired on KLRU TV, PBS, and played in 50 film festivals around the world. Foreign Puzzle is her first long-form documentary and is distributed on the only member-owned distribution cooperative New Day Films.  

Currently, she is in production for Our Daughters, a feature documentary that examines open adoption in America through an immigrant lens. It’s supported by the Jerome Foundation, Center for Asian American Media, and New York State Council for the Arts. In 2020, the project was selected to the Sheffield Meet Market, IFP Documentary Lab, and IFP week.

She edited the 25 min episode titled "Symbolic Justice" for CBSN Original series "Speaking Frankly" and the Sundance supported mini-series, America in Transition - about trans people of color in America. In addition to making and editing documentaries, she is creating an interactive story portal about breast cancer narratives from India called 1001 Breast Cancer Nights. She received the Made in New York Fellowship, BAVC National Media Maker Fellowship, and the Lancet Development Award for this project. 

She is an avid runner and food is her first love.