Veda has a passion for video journalism, long-form and interactive storytelling. She was a producer at The New York Times from 2016 to 2019 and is now a Senior Producer at National Geographic. Her short documentaries and interactive stories have appeared in The New York Times, National Geographic, Frontline, PBS NewsHour, NY1 and Newsweek.
Highlights of Portfolio:
- National Geographic Lockdowns Around The World Project featuring filmmakers on five continents, published on YouTube and Instagram. India segment by Veda Shastri. April – May 2020.
- National Geographic Explorers Series on YouTube. 2019
Endangered Penguins of South Africa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwH3fygSNVU
Clearing Everest’s Trash: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BK79eI71qxU
- The New York Times Highlights
“Remembering Emmett Till: The Legacy of a Lynching.” The New York Times, February 2019. Won the ONA Excellence in Immersive Storytelling in September 2019.
Interactive story w/Text, Drone, Photo, 360 Stills, Archival Photos: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/02/20/us/emmett-till-murder-legacy.html
NYTimes Insider written by Veda Shastri describing the process of creating the project. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/21/reader-center/emmett-till-reporting.html
“Dark Island: Rebuilding Puerto Rico’s Grid.” The New York Times, May 2018.
https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000005727466/dark-island-rebuilding-puerto-ricos-grid.html
“Fukushima: 6 Years On, Empty and Eerie.” The New York Times, April 2017.
VR Story: https://www.nytimes.com/video/world/asia/100000004966193/fukushima-6-years-on-empty-and-eerie.html
Interactive with Text, Photo, Video: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/10/world/asia/fukushima-daiichi-nuclear-disaster-towns.html
NYTimes Insider on our team’s experience of reporting in Fukushima
7 Wonders Travel Series, December 2017
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/01/travel/the-new-seven-wonders-of-the-world.html
Full playlist of 100+ New York Times stories by Veda here: https://www.nytimes.com/video/veda-shastri
Ladies Only, Independent Documentary, 2017
“Ladies Only” is a 29-minute short documentary directed by Veda Shastri that takes place in New Delhi, India. The film explores the rise of gender-segregated spaces in the Indian capital’s public transport system—trains, buses, and now, taxis. To combat the pervasive problem of rape and sexual harassment, “women’s only” initiatives have been implemented to make the city safer and more secure for women. This film follows the characters of Preeti, who’s hoping to leave her abusive husband, and Simran, who is transgender, as they attend driving school and learn to become one of India’s few female professional taxi drivers—for women specifically.
Return to Chernobyl, PBS Frontline, 2016
A short VR documentary film filmed in Chernobyl, Ukraine, telling a survivor’s story and his return to the ghost towns of Pripyat, affected by the nuclear disaster 30 years prior.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/return-to-chernobyl/