Prashanth Gunasekaran

Malaysian-born filmmaker Prashanth Gunasekaran studied both science and theatre at the University of Otago before stepping into the screen industry. He began as an assistant director on Auckland indie romance Urban Turban (2014). Gunasekaran went on to direct a run of short films including Irumanam (2017), Don’t F With Me (2022), and For Thom (2023). He has also worked across production for several international feature films. In 2024 Gunasekaran co-directed another feature, castaway romance Stranded Pearl, set in the Cook Islands. Alongside his film work, Gunasekaran is also a practicing physiotherapist.

As a storyteller from an underrepresented community, every frame of film becomes more than just art — it becomes reclamation, a voice where silence once was. Filming Stranded Pearl in the Cook Islands wasn’t just a challenge: it was a return. The land, the people, the story — it all reminded me that our voices may be small in number, but they run deep like the ocean. Prasanth Gunasekaran