Personal Information

Location

New York

Biography

“Ordinary people have extraordinary stories to tell. This is what motivates me to make films.”, says Afia Serena Nathaniel, founder of an indie production house, Zambeel Films, in Pakistan.

Afia - filmmaker-scientist-activist – is Pakistan’s first independent female filmmaker from a minority background. She graduated as a Dean’s Fellow from Columbia University with an MFA in Film Directing. She has a nine year working experience in film and TV production in Pakistan and New York.

Afia is the first Pakistani filmmaker whose feature screenplay has been selected as one of the top 100 international screenplays by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2007. She has won several awards for her films and screenplays, including the Ezra Litwak Distinction in Screenwriting, IFP Market Best Screenplay and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association award.

Afia’s short films have garnered critical acclaim at various international festivals, including, Rotterdam, Reel-Toronto and Montreal. Her directorial debut “Nadah” was nominated for the Golden Reel Award in Los Angeles together with her screenwriting debut of “Butterfly”.

In addition to filmmaking, Afia has considerable work experience in the advertising and non-profit sectors. She worked as an English copywriter for Publicis in Pakistan and later joined a Swiss-based international non-profit organisation, the World YWCA, as a Communications Manager. She served as a Board member on the World YWCA’s Executive Committee.

Afia is deeply interested in the use of media as a platform for advocating issues involving women and children in marginalised communities. In 2004, Afia co-scripted and narrated the documentary “Women Are” – a project by UNAIDS and World YWCA. In 2006, Afia worked as a film editor on the acclaimed documentary “Shame”, a story about a gangraped woman in Pakistan.

In addition to writing, directing, producing and editing, Afia has worked in an advisory capacity on several film projects, including “The War Within”. She has mentored and advised several Cinereach fellows based in New York and has conducted masterclasses on filmmaking at LUMS several institutes of higher learning in Pakistan. Afia has been a panelist on several forums, most recently on “Terrorism in South Asia” hosted by Columbia University. She also curated the first women’s film festival at International House in NYC.

Afia’s thesis film “Long After” starring Tillotama Shome (Monsoon Wedding) and Ayad Akhtar (The War Within) was a recipient of the HBO Development Award and a post-production grant from the Caucus Foundation.

Afia was selected for Berlin’s prestigious Co-production Market in 2009 with her feature film “Neither the Veil nor the Four Walls”. It was one of ten projects from around the world showcased at the Talent Project Market.

Afia recently produced a supernatural short film “Vanish” in New York. She is in development with three film projects.

Professional Website

www.zambeelfilms.com

IMDB Page

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1398746/

Caucus Film

Film Title

Long After (Muntazir)

Film Website

www.zambeelfilms.com

Film Information & Synopsis

Logline: When love becomes a living ghost.

Festival Experience

Montreal

History

Member for

2 years 37 weeks

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