I am a writer, director and spinner of yarns. Stories beguile me. Their power to change us still sends shivers down my spine.
I’ve made short films, documentaries and music videos about the things make us tick, and some of the social forces that define us. I’ve worked on stories about people who inhabit different languages and cultures (from Frantz Fanon or David Hawkins – an American POW who chose China at the end of the Korean War – to my little girl protagonist, Bubbles).
In my movies, you will find — among other things — : archival footage, critical thought, emotional depth, music, colour and texture. Hopefully you will also encounter a grain of that truth which I strive for every bloody day.
For commissions, please email nqf1895 at gmail.com
The first documentary I made – David Hawkins: A Battle of the Mind – was nominated for AHRC Research Film of the year in 2017. My feature film, People Are Strange, was selected for iFeatures 2018/2019 and I continue to work on it with BBC and BFI support. My films and music videos have played at festivals and symposia internationally and been championed by South Asian festivals. In 2021 I completed Re-Reading Fanon, an hour long documentary about the psychiatrist and philosopher Frantz Fanon.
I enjoy the collaborative nature of filmmaking and am grateful to all the people whom I have worked with. A drive for excellence is my own personal albatross, but it is also a blessing.
As a writer, I have written on film (most recently for the BFI Cinema Unbound Season) and contributed to the Museum of Colour. I have also authored a book-length Clore/AHRC-supported critique of diversity in the UK cultural sector. I enjoy public speaking and have spoken at events including the 2023 Cambridge Film Festival; Daniel Pick’s Hidden Persuaders book launch in 2022 and UCL’s How to Be Both panel in 2019.
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2015/2016 Arts Council of England Fellow on the Clore Leadership Programme
MFA in Filmmaking from Columbia University, New York (Awarded FOCUS Fellowship and Milos Forman Award)
MA Oxon English Language & Literature, Wadham College, Oxford
Languages: Urdu, French, Italian and Spanish
Member of Liberty, WGGB, Directors UK and BAFTA Connect.
Nasheed Qamar Faruqi 