Pillars Fund, Riz Ahmed, and Left Handed Films have selected the inaugural cohort of the Pillars Artist Fellowship, The selected fellows include 10 emerging Muslim directors and writers, seven from the U.S. and three from the U.K.
The 2022 Pillars Artist Fellows include the following artists:
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Fateme Ahmadi, Director, London
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Zeshawn Ali, Director, New York
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Aqsa Altaf, Director, Los Angeles
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Nausheen Dadabhoy, Director, New York
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Imran J. Khan, Director, Los Angeles
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Karim Khan, Writer, Oxford, U.K.
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Myriam Raja, Director, London
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Nadra Widatalla, Writer, Los Angeles
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Farida Zahran, Director, New York
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Ali Imran Zaidi, Writer, Los Angeles
Aninitiative sponsored by Netflix and Amazon Studios. , the Pillars Artist Fellowship champions and mentors Muslim directors and writers whose presence behind the screen will be game-changing for the film and television industries.
In addition to an unrestricted award of $25,000, each fellow will receive mentorship from industry experts on how to navigate the business of Hollywood, professional development and creative guidance in their fields, and access to a trailblazing advisory committee of award-winning Muslim actors, directors, producers and writers.
“We spent months getting to know many talented candidates for the Pillars Artist Fellowship,” said Kashif Shaikh, Co-founder and President, Pillars Fund. “We are honored to work with these incredible artists and are excited to provide them resources to reach even greater heights in the coming year.”
“There were hundreds of strong applicants from which this inaugural class of bold new voices was selected, crystallizing our belief that rectifying and reimagining Muslim representation in film means empowering Muslim filmmakers,” said Riz Ahmed and Allie Moore of Left Handed Films. “The talent is out there. Through the Pillars Artist Fellowship they will be supported in creating freely, navigating industry barriers, and building a community of peers and allies. We’re thrilled to see how their work will grow with the creative support and financial resources granted by the Fellowship, and the generosity of our sponsors, advisory board members, and creative allies.”
In addition to the financial award, the fellowship comprises eight months of programming, including retreats in London, New York and Los Angeles to learn, connect and create outside the boundaries of anti-Muslim bias.
“Muslims are the most racially and geographically diverse faith group in the world, and our inaugural cohort of Pillars Artist Fellows span multiple identities across race, age and gender and represent a range of experiences in their storytelling and points of view,” said Arij Mikati, Managing Director of Culture Change, Pillars Fund. “We are particularly proud to have six women among our ten fellows, who will bring an incredibly needed and valuable voice to writers’ rooms and decision-making spaces across the industry.”
The cohort members’ expertises span medium and genre, including fellows with experience in documentary, short film and feature film.
First the trailer for Ms. Marvel dropping today and now these amazing talented people announced as the Pillars? It’s a good day for Muslim and Brown representation.
Read the fellows’ bios below.
Fateme Ahmadi
Location: London, U.K.
Profession: Director
Fateme Ahmadi is a writer-director who graduated from the London Film School. She is an alumna of Berlinale Talents and Edinburgh Talent Lab. Her short film “Bitter Sea” was a British Independent Film Awards nominee, and her latest short, “Leila’s Blues,” premiered in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes Film Festival as a part of Tunisia Factory. Fateme was one of the Film London Lodestars in 2019 and a John Brabourne Award recipient in 2020. She was also an associate producer on “Coup 53,” a feature documentary directed by Taghi Amirani and edited by Walter Murch. Fateme’s first feature, “Daughter of Eden,” is currently in development with the BFI Film Fund. Fateme is represented by Kelly Knatchbull at Sayle Screen.
Zeshawn Ali
Location: New York, U.S.
Profession: Director
Zeshawn Ali is a filmmaker originally from Ohio. He is a graduate of Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, where he concentrated in directing and cinematography. His feature film debut, “Two Gods,” was supported by ITVS, Ford Foundation and Sundance Institute and was selected in festivals across North America. It was released in theaters across the United States and named a New York Times Critic’s Pick. It was also screened as a part of “Independent Lens” on PBS and was nominated for a Cinema Eye Spotlight Award. He is a member of Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective and Meerkat Media and currently based in New York City.
Aqsa Altaf
Location: Los Angeles, U.S.
Profession: Director
Aqsa Altaf is a Los Angeles-based writer and director. She was raised in Kuwait by Muslim Pakistani and Sri Lankan parents who were migrant workers. She immigrated to the United States in 2013. Aqsa wrote and directed a Disney short film, “American Eid,” for the NAACP Image Awards-nominated series Disney Launchpad (Season 1). The film is now streaming on Disney+. Her films have premiered at SXSW, Santa Barbara International Film Festival and Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, and were shortlisted for BAFTA Student Film Awards. She was nominated for the Young Director Award 2019 at Cannes Lions. In addition to her narrative work, Aqsa also directs commercials and branded films. She is currently developing her first feature and television projects.
Nausheen Dadabhoy
Location: New York, U.S.
Profession: Director
Nausheen Dadabhoy is a director and cinematographer whose work spans fiction and documentary. She has lensed an Oscar-nominated short film and an Emmy-winning documentary. Her films have been shown at Sundance Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and Tribeca Film Festival, and hosted on Netflix, Amazon, HBO and Hulu. Her directorial debut, “The Ground Beneath Their Feet,” premiered at International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam in the first appearance competition. She is currently directing her second feature documentary, “An Act of Worship.” The film has received support from the Ford Foundation, Open Society Foundations, Tribeca Film Institute, International Documentary Association and Sundance Institute. Nausheen received her MFA in Cinematography from the American Film Institute.
Imran J. Khan
Location: Los Angeles, U.S.
Profession: Director
Imran J. Khan has written and directed award-winning short films including “Timmy II,” “The Drone and the Kid” and “Prom.” His films have screened at major film festivals, been broadcasted nationally and been awarded Vimeo Staff Pick. Currently, Imran is preparing to direct his debut feature film, “Mustache,” a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age dramedy, slated for later this year. He is formerly an assistant editor at Walt Disney Animation Studios and has previously assistant edited for “Space Jam: A New Legacy,” “Minions: The Rise of Guru,” “Disenchantment” for Netflix, and “Shirkers.” He is a San Francisco Bay Area native who began his filmmaking journey in undergrad, making viral sketch videos while pursuing a degree in engineering. He is a graduate of New York University’s Graduate Film program.
Karim Khan
Location: Oxford, U.K.
Profession: Writer
Karim Khan is a British Pakistani playwright and screenwriter from Oxford. With a background in theater, Karim has written several produced plays and has been on both the Soho Writers Lab and the Royal Court Writers Group. In 2019, he graduated from the National Film and Television School Screenwriting program with a Channel 4 and Toledo scholarship. He currently has a number of television projects in development with various production companies. Karim is also writing an episode for Channel 5/PBS show “All Creatures Great and Small” and is a part of several writers’ room teams working on new shows with the BBC. This year, his play “Brown Boys Swim” will premiere at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Myriam Raja
Location: London, U.K.
Profession: Director
Myriam Raja graduated from the National Film and Television School in 2018 with her graduation short, “Azaar,” which was nominated for a BAFTA for Best British Short Film. Myriam’s previous short, “The Third Sorrow,” screened at the BFI London Film Festival in 2018 and won 2019’s 16 Days 16 Films. Myriam recently finished directing an episode of “Top Boy.” She is developing a feature version of her short “Azaar” with Film4 and a psychological thriller feature with David Yates’ production company, Wychwood Films, and BBC. Recently, Myriam also directed a music video for Riz Ahmed, “Once Kings,” in conjunction with his feature “Mogul Mowgli.”
Nadra Widatalla
Location: Los Angeles, U.S.
Profession: Writer
Nadra Widatalla is a Sudanese-American storyteller and community-based organizer. As a Sudanese woman, her goal is to continue to bridge the gap between global revolutions and grassroots movements happening in the United States, whether it be through on-the-ground organizing or sharing her voice in the Los Angeles Times, Teen Vogue and more. Most recently, Nadra was selected to participate in the Television Screenwriting Lab for Black Muslim Writers, held in partnership with the Muslim Public Affairs Council and The Blackhouse Foundation. Additionally, her pilot, “Naila,” was selected for The Black List’s inaugural Muslim List. She is currently writing and developing projects for television. Nadra mobilizes and collaborates with The Black Alliance for Peace and is an organizer with Los Angeles Mutual Aid Network and Horn of Africa Pan-Africans for Liberation and Solidarity.
Farida Zahran
Location: New York, U.S.
Profession: Director
Farida Zahran is an Egyptian writer-director based in Brooklyn, working across film and television. Most recently, she wrote on the acclaimed series “Ramy” (A24 and Hulu). Her short film, “Youth,” premiered at SXSW in 2019 and screened at festivals worldwide. It received an Oscar-qualifying award at Palm Springs ShortFest and is a Vimeo Staff Pick. Farida was also selected for the 2019 New York Film Festival Artist Academy and served on the jury for the 2020 edition of the Palm Springs ShortFest. She is a graduate of the NYU Tisch School of the Arts Graduate Film Program. Farida is currently in development on her debut feature as well as a half-hour series.
Ali Imran Zaidi
Location: Los Angeles, U.S.
Profession: Writer
Ali Imran Zaidi is a Los Angeles-based television, feature and audio series writer, currently developing a narrative podcast alongside Hillman Grad Productions with Janina Gavankar attached to co-produce and star. Thrillers, sci-fi, crime and alt-history are his focus, with an eye toward un-gentrifying those genres. A Florida escapee, Ali has lived on three continents and worked odd jobs, from processing mountains of gulf shrimp at a fish house to building software in a hangar near Travolta’s secret lair. His stories are spiked with that diverse experience. He’s been featured on John August’s Scriptnotes, and completed an MPAC TV Drama Screenwriting Lab and a Canon Filmmaker Lab on Directing and Cinematography. He also has two other projects in active development: an adapted post-apocalyptic sci-fi horror audio series and an original thriller feature.
