Film Forum

Saim Sadiq is a Pakistani filmmaker whose film JOYLAND is the first Pakistani feature to premiere at the 75th Cannes Film Festival in Un Certain Regard. His short film DARLING was the first Pakistani film to premiere at the 76th Venice Film Festival, where it won the Orrizonti Prize for Best Short Film. DARLING was also an official selection at the Toronto International Film Festival 2019, won a Special Jury Mention award at South by Southwest 2020, and was acquired for distribution by Focus Features. His previous short film NICE TALKING TO YOU was an official selection at South by Southwest 2019, Palm Springs International Shortsfest 2019, made the BAFTA Shortlist for Best Student Film, and won Vimeo’s Best Director award at Columbia University Film Festival 2018. It also won the Kodak Student Scholarship Gold Award. Sadiq recently wrote the original pilot “It Never Rains in Cairo” for MakeReady with Brad Weston and Scott Silver executive producing. Currently, he is writing the film adaptation of New York Times bestseller Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet; Oscar-nominated Bing Liu is attached to direct. Sadiq received his bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the Lahore University of Management Sciences and his MFA in film directing from Columbia University.

Rasti Farooq is a Pakistani writer, actor, and producer. A fast-rising star on both stage and screen, she has starred in numerous Pakistani plays over the past decade and in many celebrated short films such as LETTERS OF MIKAEL MUHAMMED (2015) directed by Saim Sadiq and MAY I HAVE THIS SEAT (2020) directed by Tabish Habib. Behind the camera, Rasti is one of the chief executives of Puffball, a Lahore, Pakistan based animation studio who have produced award winning animated films such as CITY OF SMILES (2020) and SWIPE (2020), which were official selections at the Annecy Animation Festival in 2021.

Ali Junejo is a Pakistani actor, writer, and director. He was recently awarded “Best Actor in an International Feature” at the 2023 Palm Springs Film Festival. Ali has been honing his craft in Pakistani theater scene for nearly two decades. With roles from Beckett to Mamet to Shaffer, and a handful of original plays, some written and directed by him. Recently, his work, both in front of and behind the camera, has begun to expand; with Sunil Shanker's short film NEXT SCENE (2021), and MAYA (2023), directed by Kanwal Khoosat.

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Apoorva Guru Charan is an LA-based producer who was born in India and raised in Northern California. Charan started her career as a digital producer on series such as Asia's Got Talent and X Factor Indonesia. An alumnus of Columbia University's MFA Film program, Charan has produced over twenty short films including LONELY BLUE NIGHT, which won the Audience Award for Best Short Film at AFI Fest 2020, was an official selection at the Atlanta FF, and is available to stream on HBO Max; 空间DISTANCE, which won Film Pipeline's Best Film Award in 2020; and INTERIORS, which premiered at the TIFF in September 2018 and was an official selection for Clermont-Ferrand 2019. Charan was a 2019 Project Involve creative producing fellow, a 2020 Film Independent Creative Producing Lab fellow, a 2021 Women in Film Emerging Producers fellow, and has worked in development at Big Beach, Walt Disney Studios' live action department, and at Blue Harp. JOYLAND, her producerial feature debut, helped launch the film and tv production company—all caps. Through all caps, Charan aims to produce refreshing and unique narratives for a global audience.

Maggie Briggs is a screenwriter and director from Asheville, North Carolina and received her MFA in Film from Columbia University in New York City. Her short film, TO SONNY, premiered at Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival and won Best International Film at Still Voices Film Festival in Ireland. Her next short, LOUIS I: KING OF THE SHEEP, a stop-motion animation she wrote and produced, had its World Premiere at the 72nd Berlinale in its Generation Program. She currently is in development on her own first feature, PRONE TO WANDER, which has been supported by Tribeca Film Institute, Cine Qua Non, and, most recently, the TIFF Writers’ Studio where she was awarded the CHANEL Women Writers’ Network Grant.

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Samee Ahmad is a political education organizer in NYC. He is a member of SALAM, a South Asian political organization working for a left alternative in South Asia and its diaspora.

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