Producer Shrihari Sathe of New York-based production company Dialectic is enjoying the best time of his life, with no less than three of his projects, each completely different in style, genre and …
The “Stay Awake” cast includes Wyatt Oleff, Fin Argus and Chrissy Metz. “Prescription drug and opioid addiction is a global problem. Tens of millions of people are affected by this in the U.S. and probably an equal number globally,” Sathe told. “Typically movies or television shows about addiction are from the addict’s POV or where they are the villains. Jamie has explored this epidemic from the family members’ perspective and with a levity that comes from a very authentic place.
Sathe grew up in Mumbai at the cusp of the television channel boom and was exposed to a lot of Hollywood content. Having cinephile parents meant that he also saw world cinema with films that made an impression including “Bicycle Thieves,” “Breathless,” “Seven Samurai” and “The Piano.” Sathe then moved to the U.S.
“As a producer, I’m primarily drawn to the underlying story in the screenplay and the director’s vision for it,” says Sathe. “I don’t go out to seek a film from a particular country or a particular language. It is mainly a director’s voice and what they want to tell about the current state of human society. I’m also looking at films that are stories typically not being told in mainstream cinema or, in some cases, even in arthouse cinema.