'Designing Worlds On Screen': An Interview With Production Designer Riya Vaidya

In a career spanning multiple international platforms, Riya Vaidya has emerged as one of India’s most globally recognized production designers. From the Oscar® and BAFTA-qualifying LA Shorts International Film Festival, where her film Dead Girl was officially selected, to youth-focused powerhouses like Italy’s Giffoni Film Festival (Pathaka), and prestigious showcases like AFI FEST in Los Angeles, Vaidya’s artistic eye and ability to craft visually resonant storytelling environments have found recognition across the world. Her work has been celebrated at queer film festivals such as KASHISH Mumbai, OUTSOUTH Queer Film Festival in Durham, and Palm Springs’ Cinema Diverse, while also earning acknowledgment for technical artistry, such as a Best Production Design nomination at Independent Shorts Awards.

Her versatile contributions extend into digital-first series and new media storytelling — with millions of views on platforms like ReelShort and DramaBox — as well as socially conscious projects and music videos, including Off the Yayo. From cultural representation in shorts like Sunna (backed by CAPE USA) to the Caribbean spotlight at CARIFESTA XV for In Foreign, her trajectory underscores a rare internationalism.  The upcoming music video for the Yo-Yo Honey Singh song ‘Mafia’ releases on September 26th, and we sat down with Ms. Vaidya to trace her journey and discuss her recent string of festival successes.

The Interview

Q: Riya, congratulations on the widespread success of Dead Girl. How did it feel to have the film showcased at such a distinguished festival as LA Shorts International, which is Oscar®-qualifying and selects less than 10% of submissions?
 A: Thank you — it was incredible to see the film reach that platform. For a production designer, such recognition validates the collaborative artistic process, and festivals like LA Shorts are not just showcases, but spaces that affirm excellence and build community. It’s validation that the story we poured so much into has resonated beyond our own circle. These festivals have such a high standard, and give films a new platform and more visibility, so to be included means a lot. LA Shorts has launched so many great filmmakers, and being part of that lineup is both humbling and inspiring. It’s a huge encouragement to keep pushing creatively and telling relatable stories that matter. 

Q: The film was also screened at AFI FEST, OUTSOUTH, and Mumbai’s iconic KASHISH festival. What does it mean to you to see your work connecting across such diverse audiences — queer, global, and artistic?
 A: When visual elements resonate across cultures, it’s an affirmation that cinema transcends boundaries, and highlights the universality of storytelling. 
As a production designer, it’s deeply moving to see the visuals of a film connect across diverse audiences; it tells you that the choices you made — in space, color, texture, and symbolism — speak beyond dialogue. Knowing that the environments I help create can reflect identity, evoke emotion, and offer representation in subtle but impactful ways, drives me to approach every film with a sensitivity and an openness to capture the nuances of the characters’ inner and outer worlds for a more powerful narrative.  

Q: Your project Pathaka gained recognition at Giffoni in Italy, Cinemagic in the UK, and the Chelsea Film Festival in New York. What role does production design play in shaping stories for young and international audiences?
 A: Production design for me, is a visual bridge between narrative and emotional resonance, and between the conscious and subconscious, no matter the cultural setting. Young viewers are very perceptive; they notice and feel the smallest details. So every design choice —  a color palette, a poster on the wall, the texture of a lived-in space- becomes seminal to understanding the character’s world. Blending specificity and relatability through the visuals is also about creating an emotional link between the story, the characters, and the audience experiencing it.

Q: You’ve also been shaping the rapidly evolving vertical and digital-first space with projects like Billionaire CEO’s Secret Obsession on ReelShort and I Became Mrs. Grayson By Bragging on DramaBox, both of which registered millions of views. How is the creative process different when designing for mobile-first audiences?
 A: The biggest difference is pace and format. You must design for intimacy since the viewer is on a phone, very close. It demands a rethinking of composition, space, and how visual information is prioritized. Instead of the wide cinematic landscapes we’re used to, you’re working with height — layering vertically, focusing on strong silhouettes, and using depth to guide the viewer's eye. The design has to be visually impactful yet carefully scaled, and enable quick scene changes and episodic storytelling in bite-sized pieces. 

Q: Sunna earned support from CAPE USA and was even featured in Variety. How do such grants and industry recognition shape your confidence as a production designer and art director from India working in global contexts?
 A: Recognition by a body like CAPE, with jurors from major studios, is an encouragement. Stepping into multicultural spaces, you often feel like you're bridging myriad worlds. So when institutions or festivals uplift your work, it affirms that your perspective has value beyond borders. As a designer and art director, it’s a reminder that personal narratives and visual expression, when rooted in your culture, yet adaptable to international contexts, speak to audiences worldwide, and authenticity is key. 

Q: Turning to Off the Yayo, which recently won ‘Best Music Video’ at the LA Under the Stars Festival, you worked on sensitive subject matter related to addiction. How do you approach visual themes for stories that balance art with social commentary?
 A: It starts with respect, empathy, and understanding the lyrical themes and intent of the artist.
‘Off The Yayo’ was about the destructiveness of addiction and the vices and bad decisions that accompany it. Through the art and photographic choices, the team collaborated to create a dark, sensual environment, reflective of the declining mental state, pain, and suppression that emerge in the midst of addiction. The visuals should not overshadow but amplify the story, and designing spaces that feel authentic and echo the feeling of the song helps the audience connect to it emotionally.

Q: Finally, your work on In Foreign received attention at HollyShorts, AFI FEST, and CARIFESTA in Barbados. How does working across continents influence how you approach cultural storytelling in film?
 A: Each culture has its textures, colors, and rhythms. As a designer or decorator, you're not just building physical spaces — you're building context, memory, identity, and have to understand how deeply rooted those things are in a culture - how a certain environment looks in one country versus another, what colors hold meaning in each place, and how objects carry emotional weight depending on where you are. The job isn’t to impose a look, but to bring a story to life in a way that feels genuine to its cultural setting while still being emotionally accessible to anyone, anywhere. That balance and layering is where the magic happens.

Closing Thoughts

Riya Vaidya’s journey as a production designer exemplifies how Indian creative talent is shaping global narratives in cinema and new media. From Pathaka’s youth audiences in Europe to Dead Girl’s punctuation of LGBTQ+ visibility in the festival circuit, and from mobile-first platforms with millions of viewers to socially conscious shorts supported by grants, she continues to expand how visual design in storytelling is redefined.

For a generation of filmmakers and storytellers navigating both traditional and digital frontiers, Riya Vaidya’s work stands as proof that the visual language of cinema has no borders.