Back to All News
10 New Filmmakers Awarded Coveted Pillars Artist Fellowship
Social Impact
23 July 2024
United States
Link copied to clipboard
Pillars Fund, Riz Ahmed and his production company, Left Handed Films, are excited to announce the newest cohort of the Pillars Artist Fellowship. The fellowship provides crucial financial and professional support for Muslim filmmakers, who are historically underrepresented in the entertainment industry. This year's fellows include a father and filmmaker moved to action by the uprisings in Ferguson, the only Arab director to win twice at the Venice Film Festival and an animator who mentors young filmmakers in refugee camps. The Pillars Artist Fellowship has been sponsored by the Netflix Fund for Creative Equity and Amazon MGM Studios since the inaugural cohort in 2022.
"We are immensely proud to be working alongside these principled, visionary, and courageous artists, says Arij Mikati, Pillars' Managing Director of Culture Change. The competitive applicant pool of hundreds inspires me with an impossible-to-miss reminder: There is no shortage of Muslim storytellers prepared to share fresh, exciting narratives. All they need is the chance."
Each fellow receives an unrestricted $25,000 grant and mentorship from industry experts that includes insight for navigating the business, professional development and creative guidance in their fields. The fellows will attend all-inclusive learning retreats in New York City, London and Los Angeles and have access to a trailblazing advisory committee of award-winning Muslim actors, directors, producers and writers.
The eight months of programming are designed to catapult the fellows' careers and elevate their impact on culture and entertainment.
The 2024 Pillars Artist Fellows are:
Jude Chehab, an acclaimed Lebanese-American filmmaker with a richly layered visual style, whose film Q was named one of the best documentaries of 2023 by Vogue. Her films go beyond the surface to showcase nuanced stories that give dignity to Muslim experiences without sacrificing authenticity.
Mahnoor Euceph, an award-winning writer and director from Los Angeles who creates entertaining stories about the South Asian diaspora-stories that seek to decolonize minds and encourage radical self-love. She is developing her film Brown Girl with Cate Blanchett, Coco Francini and Dr. Stacy L. Smith's Proof of Concept Accelerator.
Amber Fares, an award-winning documentary filmmaker and cinematographer in New York City whose work is on some of the biggest platforms, such as Convergence: Courage in a Crisis on Netflix and We are Ayenda on Amazon Prime Video. She spent years in the Middle East, and much of her work brings Arabs to the forefront, highlighting their stories, culture and aspirations.
Nuhash Humayun, a Bangladeshi-American writer and director creating unique films that meld horror and South Asian culture. Based in Texas, his horror anthology film Pett Kata Shaw won Best International Feature at the Raindance Film Festival, while his SXSW-winning short film Moshari is the first Oscar-qualifying film from Bangladesh.
Soudade Kaadan, an acclaimed Syrian director who is the only Arab director to win twice at the Venice Film Festival, including one win for The Day I Lost My Shadow. Now based in London, her relatable and authentic fiction films are a way for her to preserve cultures being decimated by war.
Liam LoPinto, an Iranian-American filmmaker and animator from New York City. His acclaimed work, including The Old Young Crow, spotlights diaspora, refugees, immigrants and dissidents and reclaims identities that are too often unjustly vilified. Liam mentors young Syrian refugees in filmmaking.
Aiman Mimiko, an award-winning Nigerian-American writer and director based in Los Angeles who is currently developing his first feature, Quarters. Aiman's incredible life experiences are the basis for his acclaimed film and TV work, which centers and uplifts African and Muslim perspectives while challenging problematic assumptions.
Maryam Mir, a Brooklyn-based filmmaker whose background and life span the globe, from Kashmir to Germany to Kenya to Bahrain. Her award-winning work, including Sweet Refuge, tells stories that honor and uplift the joy, warmth and gentleness of her many communities.
Warda Mohamed, a BIFA-nominated filmmaker. Her debut narrative short MUNA" was backed by BBC Film and made its International Premiere at the 74th Berlinale Film Festival. She is currently developing her debut feature screenplay MOON with BBC Film and Working Title, and her debut TV pilot as part of this year's cohort on the prestigious Channel 4 Screenwriting course.
Mobolaji Olambiwonnu, an award-winning director and storyteller based in Southern California. His work, including Ferguson Rises, centers social justice, humanizes Black men and their unique experiences and is inspired by his young son. He sees cinema as a tool to help audiences shed their prejudices.
We are honored to be working with the amazing team at Pillars Fund, says Left Handed Films. Together, we're proud to have selected such a promising cohort of emerging filmmakers for this unique program. The Pillars Artist Fellowship has created a community of outstanding Muslim artists with so many successes already under their belt, and we can't wait to see its legacy continue to grow.
Learn more about each fellow and see their photos in the press kit.
The Pillars Artist Fellowship Advisory Committee includes: Riz Ahmed, Bisha K. Ali, Mahershala Ali, Sana Amanat, Karim Amer, Mo Amer, Rosa Attab, Jessica Beshir, May Calamawy, Yann Mounir Demange, Mohamed Diab, Sarah Goher, Sahar Jahani, Zainab Johnson, Lena Khan, Nida Manzoor, Hasan Minhaj, Nijla Mu'min, Amina Munir, Jehane Noujaim, Aida Osman, Saagar Shaikh, Ba
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
06/12/2025
In a live broadcast from the Reagan National Defense Forum, L3Harris Chair and CEO Christopher Kubasik joined Morgan Brennan on CNBCs Closing Bell: Overtime. Ku...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
Every year, Spotify Wrapped offers a personalized look back at the audio that defined your year. It's a snapshot of your listening habits, designed to tell ...
05/12/2025
In 2025, Spotify's EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA , and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking record...
05/12/2025
In our latest blog, we explain how Wi-Fi 7 rollouts can drive consumer loyalty with value-add services such as consumer cybersecurity. We also explore how this ...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an most important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public c...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Introducing New Perks to Help You Get Even More from LinkedIn Premium Published on Dec 5, 2025 Categories: Company News, Product News
LinkedIn Corporate Co...
05/12/2025
Friday 5 December 2025
A new Game of Thrones Tale: Official trailer for Sky Exc...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
05/12/2025
Tis the season of giving once again and this year we've taken our Give Back Fridays' concept and turned it on its head.
In the autumn we were approach...
05/12/2025
Brayden Gogis doesn't remember a time when he wasn't completely fixated on games in all forms. In preschool, when they asked us to dress up as what we ...
05/12/2025
The Grinch steals the spotlight as the theme for The Late Late Toy Show 2025
Tune in tonight at 9:35pm on RT One and worldwide on RT Player
#LateLateToyShow...
05/12/2025
RT Announces New Presenters of Flagship News Programmes
New RT Six One News co-presenter Tommy Meskill
Sarah McInerney & Justin McCarthy join Morning Ir...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
04/12/2025
SBS launches Future Frames initiative to support emerging First Nations video ed...
Back to All News
