Since the release of her first feature film “Chutney Popcorn” in 1999, director Nisha Ganatra has been on a mission to place women, people of color, and the LGBTQIA+ community at the forefront of her film and television projects.

Her latest film, “The High Note,” is a fun romantic comedy/drama that centers on Grace Davis (Tracee Ellis Ross), a superstar whose talent and ego have reached unbelievable heights, and Maggie (Dakota Johnson), her overworked personal assistant, who aspires to her own childhood dream of becoming a music producer.

Ganatra was attracted to “The High Note,” which was written by Flora Greeson, because of its humor and because it encouraged its two women leads to take big risks.

No stranger to taking risks herself — she is, after all, a director — the Canadian American filmmaker is drawn to telling stories of women that depict them as full human beings with their strengths and vulnerabilities on display, as she does masterfully in both the soon-to-be released “The High Note” and in her 2019 film “Late Night.”

As Ganatra’s career continues to grow and her directorial style evolves, her goal remains the same, she says: “to tell stories that haven’t been told, and center women and people of color, and try to get voices that haven’t been heard, heard more.”