Meet Vihan Khanna | Film Festival Founder & Writer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Vihan Khanna and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Vihan, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I have always wanted to start my own business. I just didn’t know what business specifically. I got involved in the film and television industry when I was in high school. While in college, I got involved with a local film festival. It was there that I started diving deeper into the film festival industry and noticed that amateur filmmakers weren’t getting enough of a platform. I noticed that larger film festivals often have high entry fees and very limited selections from young amateur filmmakers. This is what inspired me to start Visionaries Film Festival. We focus primarily on amateur filmmakers. While we accept films from filmmakers of all ages, most of our submissions come from high school and college students. At our annual film festival, many young new filmmakers who we showcase meet older individuals in the industry who may hire them, or know someone else looking to hire them, for upcoming projects. When stating my own business, I looked for an industry that I was passionate about. I then found an area where the industry could be improved. Thats how I settled on starting Visionaries Film Festival, a film festival focused on giving a platform to our next generation of filmmakers. When starting your own business, chase your passions. Don’t chase money. If you chase money, you will likely end up starting a business in an industry that doesn’t excite you, and you will likely get bored and unmotivated with your business quickly.

What should our readers know about your business?
Visionaries Film Festival wasn’t the first business idea I came up with, and I have had many ideas since then. However, I saw a need related to my passion in the film industry and almost instantly knew it was something I wanted to pursue. I started Visionaries Film Festival in 2019. In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, all in person events were canceled. I struggled with the decision between ending the film festival after one successful year or figuring out how to do it virtually. In the back of my mind, I knew that I never wanted Visionaries Film Festival to be a one time event when I started it. I ended up teaching myself how to move Visionaries Film Festival to online, and it stayed there for two years. Finally, this year, we moved back to an in person event but in a different city. It’s definitely been a challenge. There have been many struggles along the way. When I started Visionaries Film Festival I found out that there were so many aspects of running a film festival that I wasn’t familiar with. Had all those challenges presented themselves at once, I may have been inclined to give up. However, those challenges came one at a time so it wasn’t as overwhelming learning how to overcome those obstacles one at a time. It’s important to know that you can do anything you set your mind to. You can’t know everything yourself. It’s important to partner with people who can work on the aspects of your business where you’re not as strong. Don’t be afraid to hire a virtual assistant or someone to handle your social media outreach or any other area where you need help. We all need help. None of us know everything.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I moved to Los Angeles in January of 2022. There are so many things to do around the city. You can check out the stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Take a hike in beautiful Griffith Park to the iconic Hollywood sign. You can find great sushi and Mexican food all over. Even the pop-up tents on the side of the road or the food trucks have amazing food. There are many great beaches along the coast. The Pacific Coast Highway is a stunning drive during sunset. Also, you’ve probably seen lots of photos on social media of people posing in front of the iconic lights outside the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’d like to shoutout my family for always supporting me in any endeavours that I pursue. I also look up to business leaders like Sir Richard Branson, Mark Cuban, and Gary Vaynerchuck because like myself, they never did very well in school, but they still became highly successful businessmen.

Website: https://www.visionariesfilmfestival.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/VisionariesFilmFestival

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VisionariesFilmFestival