Filmmaker Asis Sethi's short film A Bloody Mess, which seeks to normalize conversations surrounding menstruation, has won several awards at film festivals around the world. Recently, it bagged the Excellence in Filmmaking Award at the International Filmmaker Festival of New York, which was held virtually between 28 and 31 August 2020. Prior to this, the film won the Remi Award at the 53rd WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival.
As a South Asian Canadian filmmaker, Sethi longed to watch films that normalize conversations surrounding sensitive topics, and with that in mind, she set out to make this film. The short portrays the angst a teenager goes through when she is constantly hindered by traditional practices that silence her from voicing a plain and simple fact – that she is on her period. The film stars Maria Crystal Melo, Annie Koshy and Devanshu Narang.
Sethi has previously directed, written, and produced several independent projects, including The Colourful Crown, a documentary film highlighting the impact of 9/11 on turban wearers in Canada, which was screened at film festivals and aired on OMNI Television nationally. She is in the verge of wrapping up another short film titled Still and is in the development phase of two projects, a short film focusing on the post-partum journey of a new mother and a feature film project, which is currently under wraps.