Erika Surat Andersen is an award-winning filmmaker whose films have been broadcast in nearly 200 cities across the United States and have played in festivals around the globe.  She has written, directed and/or produced narrative films, documentary films and videos, television shows, image films and promotional videos for organizations. Her credits include “Turbans”, a dramatic film set in 1918 that explores the inner struggles of an Asian Indian Sikh immigrant family torn between their cultural traditions and the desire for social acceptance in America; and “None of the Above: People of Multiracial Heritage”, a documentary about people of multiracial heritage and their quest for identity, inspired by her own experience of being Asian Indian and Danish.

Erika Andersen was a professor of film and television production at the School of Film and Television, Loyola Marymount University, in Los Angeles for six years. She then relocate to Frankfurt, Germany, where she lectured at the Hochschule für Gestaltung, Offenbach (University of Art and Design), the Hochschule Darmstadt, Media Campus (Univ. of Applied Sciences), and the Filmhaus Frankfurt.  She now divides her time between the San Francisco Bay Area and Frankfurt, Germany and continues to write, make films, and create social media. 

Erika’s current project involves creative narratives about the early South Asian American experience, based on her own family’s history.  The Dhillon family was one of the earliest immigrant families from India to settle on the West Coast of the United States, in 1910.  Erika’s grandmother, Kartar (Kar) Dhillon, 1915-2008, [kartardhillon.org], was a life-long activist and author of many autobiographical essays. Erika adapted one of her grandmother’s essays to make her PBS film “Turbans“.

Erika Andersen received her Masters in Fine Arts in Cinema-Television from USC (University of Southern California) and her Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of California at Berkeley.