The 97th Annual Academy Awards were announced on Thursday January 23, 2025, which airs on Sunday, March 2. Nina Aujla, a UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television graduate of the Producers Program, has been nominated for producing the documentary short, I Am Ready Warden.
I Am Ready Warden is the latest documentary short film by acclaimed filmmaker Smriti Mundhra (Indian Matchmaking, St. Louis Superman), which tells the harrowing and emotionally charged story of John Henry Ramirez, a man convicted of murder and sentenced to death in Texas. Through his time on death row, the film offers a rare and intimate glimpse into his attempts to seek redemption and reconciliation. To gain access to the Texas prison system, Mundhra collaborated with journalist Keri Blakinger, whose New York Times Magazine article “The Dungeons and Dragons Players of Death Row” was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
Aujla is Head of Film & TV at Meralta Films, a Los Angeles-based production company. She is the Executive Producer on the upcoming Muslim Matchmaker for ABC News Studios releasing on Hulu on February 11, 2025. I Am Ready, Warden premiered at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, Doc NYC, Bend Film Festival, and the Woodstock Film Festival. Previously, Nina helped launch Priyanka Chopra Jonas’s Purple Pebble Pictures banner in the US. During her time there, she worked on various features and TV projects with an eye towards producing for a global audience, including the feature film, Evil Eye for Amazon Studios and Blumhouse Productions, and multiple ad campaigns for Google, Crocs, Bumble, JBL, and Pilot Pens.
Find the full list of nominees at Oscars.org.
*Note: At the time this article was published, multiple Academy Award categories have pending nominees. Please send any updates not yet noted to Crystal Santana at csantana@tft.ucla.edu
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