Capturing lives on the margins
How two sisters use film to drive social change
Sheena Sumaria (St John’s 2003) and Sonum Sumaria (Trinity 2008) are two sisters on a mission: to bridge empathy and resistance, telling stories that cross borders while confronting the political and economic forces that divide us.
Despite studying different subjects at Cambridge, their courses, extracurriculars and travels motivated them to pursue filmmaking internationally.
With their independent company, Guerrera Films, the sisters amplify the voices of communities often silenced or erased. They have pursued filmmaking whilst working in other areas, including tutoring.
The pair demonstrate how pursuing interests within and outside of a Cambridge degree can forge an unconventional career path.
Before Cambridge: a mixture of identites
Sheena and Sonum grew up in London, but their family’s Gujarati heritage and their parents’ birthplace of Kenya also shaped their childhood.
Sheena recalls, “I remember visiting Kenya as a young child and going to India as a teen. They were eye-opening trips because they exposed me to different worlds and sparked an early awareness of the stories of those pushed to the margins by inequality.”
Living as ethnic minorities in the UK also gave the sisters a layered understanding of belonging and exclusion, and a sense of solidarity with those whose voices are often overlooked.
Sonum explains, “Growing up between two cultures (Indian and British), I never fully felt one or the other, so I have a particular sensitivity towards those who are on the periphery.”
A critical approach to economics
At Cambridge, Sheena studied Economics, where she encountered economists who questioned mainstream thinking, such as Ajit Singh, Gabriel Palma and Ha-Joon Chang.
“Some of the courses I chose looked critically at capitalism and the politics behind economic systems,” she says.
“That exposure, alongside studying South Asian History with Raj Chandavarkar, showed me that economics doesn’t exist in a vacuum; political choices and power dynamics shape the systems we live within. That understanding continues to guide my filmmaking.”
Beyond her academic work, Sheena co-founded the Cambridge University International Development Society and the U8, an inter-university network linking students from the Global North and South.
“We wanted to create a space where students from developing countries could challenge the Western-dominated narratives around development,” she says.
Sheena didn’t leave Cambridge planning to become a filmmaker, but she remembers attending a few Cambridge Film Society screenings and being struck by the storytelling and visual style of directors like Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami.
Full immersion in language and film
A few years later, Sonum followed in her sister’s footsteps to study at Cambridge. Studying a degree in Spanish and Russian introduced her to the world of storytelling and film.
She says, “Critically analysing literature, art and film over the course of three years definitely influenced how I relate to making films. Reflecting on how ‘the other’ is portrayed, who is telling the story and how, as well as analysing aesthetic and literary devices were very formative.”
Helped by a letter of recommendation from her supervisor, Sonum secured a place at the Cuban International Film School for her year abroad. “I was immersed in cinema. There were 40 students in my class from all over the world. We lived and breathed cinema for a year.”
Sonum explored the world even further whilst studying at Cambridge. “I applied to Trinity’s travel grants to visit countries including Russia, India and Panama. I met activists, indigenous communities, and people from all walks of life.
Speaking their language allowed me to travel to remote areas and understand the culture in more depth.”
After Cambridge: an unconventional path into film
After graduating from Cambridge, Sheena initially planned to work in development, and spent time working and travelling before completing her master’s in Development Studies at SOAS.
During her travels across Latin America, she stumbled across filmmaking. “I had been posting writings and videos about people I encountered, and filmmaking grew organically out of that,” she explains.
In Medellín, Colombia, she made a short documentary about a displaced mother and a former paramilitary living in the city’s hillside settlements, borrowing a camera from a local wedding videographer.
After completing her master’s, Sheena continued her filmmaking journey, travelling to India to begin documenting the fishing community that would become the focus of her feature documentary, ‘The Fisherman and the Banker’, and then to Chile during the 2011 student uprisings, where she made ‘Chile: Building Dreams’, later broadcast on Hispan TV.
Sonum started teaching languages at a secondary school after graduating. “It came with many challenges and taught me that if I was going to struggle for something, it needed to be something I really wanted to do.”
After leaving her TeachFirst job, Sonum moved to Russia for a year, tutoring children whilst also making the documentary ‘In The Shadows of Moscow’, which explores the intimate stories of four migrants in the Russian capital.
Sonum then went on to study an MA in Cinematography at MetFilm School in London.
The birth of Guerrera Films: a sisterly collaboration
After forging separate paths in independent film, Sheena and Sonum co-created ‘Even the Crows: A Divided Gujarat’, exploring how Hindu nationalist ideology polarised the region.
What began as a voyage to explore their heritage became an investigation of political and religious tensions in India, connecting local struggles to diaspora groups in the UK and the US. “The more we researched, the more we saw how Hindu nationalism intersected with caste, class, and history,” Sonum reflects.
Sheena adds, “It was an intense and deeply engaging period. Without commitments to film companies, we were free to look critically at Gujarat, examine the 2002 pogrom, and follow diaspora members seeking justice across borders.”
Their sisterly bond helped the filmmaking process. Sheena recalls, “I enjoyed working together. We often read each other’s minds in the creative process.”
This was the start of their joint endeavour. “In 2014, we started sharing the film at film festivals. During that process, we set up Guerrera Films, which means ‘warrior woman’ in Spanish”, Sonum says.
Establishing Guerrera Films has helped the two sisters stay true to their values. Sheena explains, “Film for us is a tool for social justice, that’s why we’ve chosen the independent route, to stay free from commercial or political constraints.”
The Fisherman and the Banker
Sheena’s latest project captures the efforts of an ancient fishing community in India’s Gulf of Kutch, alongside human rights lawyers, to file the first lawsuit against the World Bank Group for funding a coal-fired plant along its coast.
Spanning fourteen years and evolving alongside the legal case, which ultimately reached the U.S. Supreme Court, the film reflects the fisherfolks’ resilience in the face of immense industrial and legal pressures.
Sheena first became involved in the project in 2010, shortly after completing her master’s at SOAS. “Visiting a famous protest site Delhi, I heard about the struggles of the Wagher fishers,” she recalls.
“Stories of social resistance from Gujarat, particularly those involving minorities, are seldom highlighted. I wanted to explore their experiences and the broader forces shaping them.”
Her first trip to the Gulf of Kutch left a deep impression. “I was struck by the contrast between the vast, tranquil landscape and the looming threat of industrialisation. Ibrahim, a charismatic figure in the community, embodied their courage, independence, and deep connection to the sea. He became the heart of the film, representing their resilience and cultural richness,” she explains.
Filming the documentary presented numerous challenges. Over fourteen years, Sheena navigated financial and logistical hurdles, self-funding much of the project and working across language and cultural barriers.
“The Wagher’s trust and openness were vital,” she notes, which she built through repeated visits.
The film premiered at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in Missoula and has since screened at festivals and cinemas globally.
Beyond its cinematic reach, ‘The Fisherman and the Banker’ serves as an advocacy tool, mobilising audiences and bringing the Wagher’s struggle directly to decision-makers at the World Bank.
As Sheena reflects, “This film goes beyond documenting a local struggle; it exposes how marginalised communities face powerful industrial and financial forces, and the failures of institutions like the IFC to protect them.”
Under the Open Sky
Sonum’s award-winning observational documentary, 'Under the Open Sky', offers a rare, intimate portrait of a nomadic camel-herding family in the desert lands of Western India.
Spanning five years, the film follows Ahmed and his family as they face an existential dilemma: to continue their traditional way of life or to adapt to a rapidly modernising world.
The film traces their quiet but powerful struggle to hold onto their ancestral way of life as they are increasingly displaced by industrialisation, climate shifts, and economic pressures.
As with Sheena’s project, Sonum had to gain the family’s trust. “I’m aware of the position of power I’m in because I have the camera and am making the editing choices. But I also make sure these communities know where I'm coming from: my intentions are sincere, and I want my films to amplify their voices and stories.”
Despite barriers in communication and production, Sonum stayed committed to the project. “I thought this project would only take a year, but life happens! Partly due to funding, and partly because their story evolved, it ended up taking five years of filming and two years of post-production.”
“It was very rewarding screening the film for the nomadic family earlier this year. The eldest son, who had tears in his eyes, thanked me for immortalising his family on screen, saying ‘even if our descendants don't continue being camel-herders, at least they'll know what their ancestors used to do'.”
Changing the world one film at a time
Both sisters aim to use film to influence the world around them. “The whole point of a lot of film, culture and art is to build empathy and to motivate people to take action. It might not be one film alone that does that, but film and culture can impact change”, Sheena explains.
Sonum agrees, “Films are not just informative, they're a powerful way to build compassion, understanding and empathy. They can touch people in completely different ways.”
The films also serve the communities they depict. “It’s resisting erasure to their ways of life when they might be threatened and might not exist in the future”, Sheena adds.
Both sisters share their films through screenings. “They provide a forum to discuss the film afterwards and have debates that can impact people more than streaming the film and switching off after”, Sheena says.
This inspiring duo has shown that exploring their interests within and beyond their degree at Cambridge motivated them to use film as a force for change.
Sheena and Sonum see film as a form of creative resistance, standing with those who refuse exploitation and confronting power through story. In reclaiming voices pushed to the margins, their work honours resilience, challenges amnesia, and calls audiences to reckon with the world anew.
Cambridge empowers alumni to change the world in so many ways; whether it’s through science, art, or something completely different.