bio

Siddarth Nair is a Toronto-based filmmaker and multidisciplinary artist whose work bridges the emotional intensity of Malayalam cinema with the lived realities of the South Asian diaspora in Canada — while remaining deeply curious about stories beyond borders. Beginning as a visual artist and performer, he developed a strong instinct for composition, embodiment, and emotional rhythm that continues to shape his filmmaking. His work blends grounded naturalism with cinematic tension — intimate yet expansive — and he writes, directs, and produces his projects from inception to final execution with a singular creative vision.

Raised between Kerala, Qatar, and Brampton, Siddarth gravitates toward stories exploring displacement, masculinity, cultural inheritance, and generational memory. His short films, including CA-YA-TE (2024) and FRIENDLY VISIT (2023), have screened internationally. His upcoming short MARAPU (2026), fully funded by the Canada Council for the Arts, marks a significant expansion of his cross-continental practice. He is currently developing CHASING CURRY, an anthology feature supported for concept and creation by the Canada Council for the Arts; the project expands upon his proof-of-concept thesis film CURRY (2016), created during his time at York University — reflecting his sustained commitment to building ideas from short-form experimentation into ambitious feature work. He is also developing Vanishing Cookbooks, a short-format food docu-series exploring culinary inheritance within immigrant families.

Beyond narrative cinema, Siddarth works as a visual strategist in commercial storytelling. Since 2021, he has served as a contract Video Specialist for Canna Cabana Canada, creating branded campaigns in collaboration with leading cannabis and lifestyle brands. Through his creative studio, Heysidart, he provides creative direction, photo-video branding, logo design, and commissioned digital artwork. His multidisciplinary practice spans art direction, production design, editing, and color grading — building textured, culturally grounded worlds across cinema and brand storytelling.