Celebrated film and television actor John Lithgow '67 introduces internationally acclaimed film director Mira Nair '79 to an audience that filled Sanders Theatre.

Born in India and educated at Delhi University and Harvard College, Nair began her career as an actor before becoming a documentary filmmaker.

Nair's debut feature film, Salaam Bombay! won over twenty-five international awards, and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Film. Her subsequent films includeMississippi Masala with Denzel Washington; The Perez Family with Marisa Tomei, Anjelica Huston, and Alfred Molina; and Karma Sutra: A Tale of Love, which she directed and co-wrote. In the summer of 2000, Nair shot Monsoon Wedding in thirty days. The film won the Golden Lion at the 2001 Venice Film Festival and received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. Nair's Hysterical Blindness, shown on HBO, garnered a Golden Globe award for actress Uma Thurman, who paid tribute to her director at the award ceremony. In 2003, Nair directed an adaptation of William Thackeray's classic novel, Vanity Fair, starring Reese Witherspoon and celebrated British actors Aileen Atkins, Alan Bates, and Jim Broadbent. At the 2003 ARTS FIRST celebration, Nair became the ninth recipient of the Harvard Arts Medal, which honors an alumnus/a or faculty member who has achieved distinction in the arts.

Before welcoming Nair on stage, Lithgow offers this award-winning director "the proper introduction," by showing the concluding moments of Monsoon Wedding.