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100% Scholarships · 9-month residential · Goa · Red Lorry Yellow Lorry Foundation

To build a better world,
we must build better storytelling.

One out of two Indian graduates is unemployable. Young adults are spending an ever-growing share of their time interacting with media — as consumers. Here's where we aim to flip the script.

We train gifted young adults to become the storytellers, not simply the scrollers. We don't care which languages you speak, where you come from, or how many coins you've collected in your pocket. If you have fire in your belly, stories in your pocket, and confusion about where to start your journey from — reach out to us. You never know, it might change your life.

Apply now See the curriculum
The Studio

Goa. Full immersion.

We work out of a studio overlooking fields, with fully loaded edit machines — focused, rigorous, 12-hour days exploring storytelling and what it could mean for us. A cinematheque inside the studio. A neighbourhood thick with filmmakers and designers, makers and tinkerers, advertisers and photographers, dropping in for sessions and screenings every week.

We're building the storytelling future of the country from a little village studio in Goa. And we're serious about it.

The Lighthouse studio, Goa — morning light
Lighthouse, GoaMendes Cottage
▶ Preview Watch the trailer
Where it began

Ready Steady.

The film project that started it all.

Co-created with teenagers, Ready Steady is a 90-minute feature-length anthology on the heartbeat of a nation, seen from inside a classroom. 25 students came together to create this project — which then created an org. Alumni from this film are now across the world: UC Berkeley, UWC Wales, National Institute of Design, BITS Pilani, Sophia's College, Delhi University, Azim Premji University — most on full-ride scholarships.

90 MIN  ·  FEATURE-LENGTH ANTHOLOGY
Problem/Opportunity
1 in 2

Indian graduates is considered unemployable by industry — India Skills Report, 2024.

100+

reels the average Indian consumer scrolls through a day — nearly all of it consumed, not made.

₹2.7T

size of India's media & entertainment industry in 2025, hiring at a 14% clip — freshers included.

Illustration of a breaking wave
Theory of Change

The Doomscroller to Storyteller leap.

Creative industries hire on portfolio and interview, not pedigree — a rare pathway where talent can outweigh credentials. Give gifted young adults rigorous training, industry exposure and real work experience, and they secure employment in top media companies — then, over time, lead it. That shifts whose stories get told, not just who gets employed.

Illustration of a whale breaching — the storyteller leap
Short-term

Mastery in storytelling and visual communication — external portfolio reviews rated ≥ industry-ready.

1–3 years

Competitive employment and a professional network — placement in top-tier media and design firms.

5–10 years

Alumni in creative leadership — directors, founders, senior strategists — producing culturally significant work.

Team

Built by people who've lived it.

"India's storytelling landscape is a rare equal-playing-field opportunity in the making. The time to build on this momentum to write a different future is now"
Safdar — Filmmaker, Educator, Founder. Director, CHIPPA (Netflix, Edinburgh International Film Festival). Exec Producer, Cat Sticks. Former Teach for India Fellow.

Vikram

Crew Lead

Was an AD on Ready Steady and has been a hustler on a storytelling journey ever since — producer at youth-platform Yuvaa, then OTT platform The Stage, before finding his calling leading the Crew at Lighthouse.

Rachel

Program Associate

A multi-talented storyteller and a passionate teacher at heart. Has trained students in theatre at IB schools, and is an actor herself — she played the lead role in Netflix's Skater Girl.

Aakash

Operations Associate

A product of the Academy himself — student turned jack-of-all-trades. Aakash enjoys writing and filming, and is the rock behind all of Lighthouse's operations.

Vivien Borgerding

Operations Associate

A German volunteer from the Weltwärts program who found her space at Lighthouse — now takes care of events and operations at the Academy.

Advisors and Supporters

Amita Chauhan

25+ years in philanthropy and nonprofits — formerly chaired SVP India's Mumbai Chapter; built GiveIndia's Mumbai Marathon fundraising initiative.

Rohin Samtaney

Co-Founder & Director of The Souled Store, a pop-culture merchandise company built from the ground up.

Sid Roy Kapur

Film producer, founder of Roy Kapur Films; formerly Managing Director, Disney India. Produced Dangal and The Jungle Book.

Shaheen Mistri

Founder and CEO, Teach For India; also founded the Akanksha Foundation in 1989 — three decades in Indian educational equity.

Sandeep Rai

Founder & CEO, The Circle India. Helped establish Teach For India in 2008; author of “Grey Sunshine” on India's education system.

Swati Apte

Co-founder, The Arts Quotient — business strategy and arts practice. Oxford PPE, Harvard MBA, former McKinsey consultant, Odissi dancer.

Celine Loop

Program Director, ProducerLAND. An IP lawyer turned independent cinema producer, and a believer in storytelling's power to educate.

Faisal Rahman

Director of Kohrra, one of Indian streaming's most acclaimed recent series.

Rati Forbes

Director, Forbes Marshall, heading the foundation arm of the company. Independent Director on company and foundation boards.

Nivritti Samtaney

Producer of Ready Steady; Assoc. Director at Acumen India. Tech for India alum and social-sector community mobiliser par excellence.

Student Work

180 students. 100+ films and counting.

Every fortnight ends in something made. A few we're proud of — full catalogue on Vimeo.

▶ Headliner Bahut Kuchh ▶ On Lighthouse, by Aakash Get Ready with LAOS ▶ Headliner Shayad / Maybe
▶ Sangat ▶ iTejas ▶ Voice Notes to Self ▶ Gamer ▶ Mera Khwaab ▶ Safar Mein Suffer ▶ Bas Aakhri Reel ▶ Kaash
The central wall

The Wall of the Leap.

Walk into the studio and this is what hits you first — the wall we build around. Every film the crew ships earns a poster on it. More than a hundred films, and counting.

Watch the full catalogue → More from the crew →
The Program

Three verticals. Three stages.

Narrative, Image and Design Storytelling — every student spends the first three months across all three before choosing where to specialise. Nine months, three stages: Foundations, Competency, Apprenticeship. Nobody works in isolation; every fortnight ends in something made.

Three verticals
01 — Narrative

Narrative Storytelling

Copywriting, screenplay, oral storytelling. Ideate, write, articulate.

02 — Image

Image Storytelling

Photography, videography, content creation. The production of image.

03 — Design

Design Storytelling

Graphic design, video edit, motion. Design through the interface.

Three stages

The journey, mapped.

Foundations, then competency, then the real world — each phase ends in work a student can put their name to.

01 — Months 1–3

Foundations

All three pillars, all students. Camera as pen, voice as instrument, type as tone. Fortnight six ends in a solo project — self-directed, presented to the full cohort and a visiting industry mentor.

02 — Months 4–6

Competency

One vertical, chosen and gone deep. Real briefs, real guests — a copywriter, an art director, a working content creator. Portfolio work begins in earnest.

03 — Months 7–9

Apprenticeship

Studio incubation and internships at Lighthouse and partner organisations. Real clients, real accountability — the runway to a first job.

The fortnightly project spine

Everything is run through fortnightly projects. Every two weeks, the crew produces a project — sometimes solo, sometimes in pairs, sometimes in groups — headlined by a guest mentor who gives the brief and runs the review. It's the spine the whole programme runs on.

To build a better world,
we must build better storytelling.

Applications for the next residential cohort in Goa are open. Full scholarship, every seat.

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