First-time director Sarab Singh Neelam's award-winning OCEAN OF PEARLS is among the first feature-length narrative films portraying the Sikh experience in North America. Its heartfelt commitment and straightforward beauty earned it a rare double-award at last year's Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, where it won both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award.

When the young Sikh doctor Dr. Amrit Singh is offered a chance to work at a state-of-the-art transport center in Denver, he knows he cannot refuse this opportunity. But, when it becomes clear he is being racially targeted and held back from advancing because of the turban that he wears, Amrit is forced to decide between his culture and career. Deciding to cut his hair and remove his turban, Amrit must soon confront and reexamine the religious and cultural values he has turned his back on.

A doctor in his pre-film life, Neelam was moved to write OCEAN OF PEARLS to portray Sikh culture, family life and the barriers they have confronted in the U.S., especially after 9/11. He writes, these events only strengthened my desire to tell the world about who Sikhs really were–a peaceful people with a belief of One God, earning a truthful living and sharing with others less fortunate. A true labor of love, the film moves far beyond the Sikh experience, also examining the flawed medical industry, where insurance rates and economics often intrude on fairness and equality.

In Person: Veerendra Prasad