We are a nonprofit dedicated to supporting and uplifting talent of South Asian descent to challenge their historical exclusion from and underrepresentation in the American film and television industry.
1497 was the last year that the area now known as South Asia (consisting of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka) was free from colonization.
Since then, South Asian stories and how they have been defined have long been sidelined in American film and television. 1497 exists to change that.
Our name signifies the year before colonization rewrote our story – now, we’re here to flip the script.