# Aneesh Chaganty

Aneesh Chaganty (/əˈniːʃ ˈtʃɑːɡənti/;Telugu pronunciation: born January 30, 1991) is an American film director and screenwriter. He made his feature film directorial debut with the 2018 thriller Searching, for which he won the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival.
Chaganty was included in the 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30 Hollywood & Entertainment list.
In 2021, Chaganty was featured in the December issue of Vanity Fair, representing Gold House as an AAPI leading member.

## Early life and background

Aneesh Chaganty was born in Redmond, Washington, and grew up in San Jose, California. His parents, originally from Andhra Pradesh, India, moved to the U.S. in the 1980s. His father, who obtained an MS degree in computer engineering from Drexel University, serves as a director and Chief Technology Officer at a software publishing, consultancy and supply company founded by both his parents, AppEnsure Inc.
Chaganty attended Valley Christian High School from 2005 to 2009. He graduated from USC School of Cinematic Arts in 2013 with a degree in film and television production.

## Career
### 2014–2017: Early career

In 2014, Chaganty's two minute short film, a Google Glass spot called Seeds, became an internet sensation after garnering more than 1 million YouTube views in 24 hours. Following its success, Chaganty was invited to join the Google 5 team at Google Creative Lab in New York City, where he spent two years writing and directing Google commercials, he also made one for Super Bowl.

### 2018-2023: Searching film series

After working on over 25 short films and videos, Chaganty directed his first feature film, Searching, which was originally pitched as a short film but was offered a production budget for a feature instead, was released on August 24, 2018 before opening wide on August 31, also premiering at the Sundance Film Festival on January 21, 2018.
Chaganty's second film Run, a thriller starring Sarah Paulson and Kiera Allen, was set to be released on January 24, 2020, then May 8, 2020, but was pushed back because of the COVID-19 pandemic, was released on Hulu on November 20, 2020. Run became Hulu‘s most watched feature title ever during its opening weekend beating not only all previously watched Hulu Originals Films, but also licensed SVOD film titles, and ranked as the most talked about Hulu Original Film to date on Twitter. It was later released internationally by Netflix on April 2, 2021.
Missing, an anthology sequel to Searching, was premiered at Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2023 and released theatrically on January 20. Chaganty wrote the story with Sev Ohanian and they co-produced it alongside Natalie Qasabian. It was released by Netflix on May 20, 2023 and became number one most streamed movie in the US in just two days, where it dominated the Top 10 chart for a week and was watched for 5.2 million hours during that first week on the platform streaming giant.

### 2024-Present

In 2024, Chaganty collaborated with Meta in partnership with Blumhouse to make a short film using Meta Movie Gen, an AI video generating tool by the tech giant, titled i h8 ai. The short film was featured on Meta's Movie Gen site and their YouTube channel.

## Filmography
### Short films

| Year | Film |
| Year | Film | Director | Writer | Notes |
| 2007 | Nug | Yes | Yes | Also film editor and producer |
| 2008 | The Sound of Evanescence | Yes | Yes | Also film editor |
| 2009 | Starving! | Yes | Yes | Also film editor |
| 2011 | Alibi | Yes | Yes | |
| 2012 | Monsters | Yes | Yes | Also film editor |
| 2012 | Microeconomics | Yes | No | |
| 2012 | Adventure, Wisconsin | Yes | Yes | Also sound editor and producer |
| 2014 | Seeds | Yes | Yes | Sponsored by Google Glass |
| 2024 | i h8 ai | Yes | Yes | partnered with Blumhouse for Meta Movie Gen |

### Feature films

| Year | Film |
| Year | Film | Director | Writer | Producer | Notes |
| 2018 | Searching | Yes | Yes | No | Feature directorial debut |
| 2020 | Run | Yes | Yes | No | |
| 2023 | Missing | No | Story | Yes | |

### Acting credits
#### TV roles

| Year | Title |
| Year | Title | Role | Note |
| 2018 | Made in Hollywood | Himself | Season 13 Episode: 46 |

#### Film roles

| Year | Title |
| Year | Title | Role | Note |
| 2010 | The Liaison | Himself | Short film |
| 2014 | Google Glass: Seeds | Traveller | Short film |
| 2024 | i h8 ai | Himself | Short film |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Film | Result |
| 2018 | Locarno Film Festival | Variety Piazza Grande Award | Searching | Nominated |
| 2018 | Sundance Film Festival | Best of Next! | Searching | Won |
| 2018 | Sundance Film Festival | Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize (shared with Sev Ohanian) | Searching | Won |
| 2018 | Sydney Film Festival | Best Narrative Feature | Searching | Nominated |
| 2018 | Los Angeles Online Film Critics Society Awards | Best First Feature | Searching | Nominated |