Sen made his breakthrough feature-length debut in 2002 with the semi-autobiographical Beneath Clouds. The film was made with a mixed crew, including an Aboriginal director of photography, a white producer and several indigenous secondary crew members. At the time, Sen and the white producer Teresa-Jane Hanson expressed their discontent with the limited availability of skilled indigenous personnel. The film, produced on a $2.5 million budget, won him global acclaim, screening at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival and winning the Premiere First Movie Award at the 2002 Berlin Film Festival and the 2002 Best Director Award at the Australian Film Institute Awards.