Kirtana Banskota is an award-winning Nepali-American Producer, Director, and Actor whose Production Company, Banskota Productions, has offices in Austin, TX and Kathmandu, Nepal. She Chairs the Board of Women in Film and Television and is the co-founder of Nepal America Film Society and the Nepal America International Film Festival. She is the Founder and CEO of Banskota Productions which produces narratives and documentaries of unheard stories from across the globe. Kirtana is also the co-founder of the South Asian House which has partnered with festivals like SXSW, Tribeca and Art Basel. Her first SAG film she co-directed, Premonition, released in October 2023, while Where the Stars Are, a feature length Asian musical, she co-directed and produced is set to premiere December 2023. Banskota also has several shorts set to compete in the film festival circuit in 2023. Her recent climb to Everest Base Camp reignited her childhood passion for the region and brought awareness to the social impact of climate change, leading to her new animation that won the International Development Award at the WIFTI script pitch challenge- Maya from the Himalaya and her docuseries, Planet Possible. She is also working on a feature documentary focusing on the issues of the Texas/Mexico Border called Crossing the Rio Grande.