Iram Parveen Bilal

Last updated
Iram Parveen Bilal
Born
Iram Parveen Bilal

Pakistan
Alma mater California Institute of Technology, University of Southern California
Occupation Filmmaker
Known for I'll Meet You There (Film) Qalambaaz (Screenwriting Lab)

Iram Parveen Bilal is a Pakistani-American filmmaker, activist and entrepreneur. In 2020, her feature film I'll Meet You There debuted at South by Southwest (SXSW) in the festival's narrative competition. [1]

Contents

Early life

Bilal was born in the United States. Bilal was raised in Nigeria and Pakistan, [2] and came back to the US to study at the California Institute of Technology. She graduated with her B.S, honors, in Environmental Science Engineering. Upon graduating, Bilal was awarded a unique opportunity with the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, a travel fellowship grant that took her around the world. [3]

She was the inspiration behind Kareena Kapoor’s character name in the movie Agent Vinod. [4] [5]

Career

Filmmaker

Her latest film, I'll Meet You There, is a family drama about a Muslim cop and his teenage ballerina daughter. The project was a Film Independent writer/director lab project and 1 of 10 out of thousands selected to compete in the SXSW 2020 grand jury. It further went on to compete at the Bentonville Film Festival as well.

Bilal was also 1 of 15 directors invited to Cinefondation's L'Atelier at Cannes 2019 for her feature project WAKHRI (ONE OF A KIND), based on a social media star in Pakistan. [6]

Her previous film Josh: Independence Through Unity is a mystery thriller set in Karachi that follows an upper-class woman who becomes determined to find out what happened to her missing caretaker. Her journey takes her to a nearby village run by a feudal lord, and in the process endangers herself and others. The story tackles themes of feudalism, youth movements, poverty, and the challenges of trying to do good amidst social unrest. [3] Josh was Pakistan's first film to be on Netflix and in the permanent selection at the US Library of Congress.

Bilal was hired to direct the live action adaptation of the wildly popular The PhD comics in 2015. That led to her second feature: The PhD Movie: Still in Grad School. She is a Thomas J Watson, Women In Film, Film Independent and CAPE fellow and an active member of the Alliance of Women Directors and Film Fatales, both organizations vested for fair representation of female directors in the entertainment industry.

Other feature projects in development have received attention by IFP, The academy's Nicholl Writing Fellowship, Mumbai Sankalan Lab, Film Independent and Women In Film. Prominent awards and honors include the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, Stark Special Project Scholarship, [7] Mabel Beckman Leadership Award, Paul Studenski Fellowship and the Dean's Cup. In March 2013, she was asked to give a TedX talk entitled "Get Uncomfortable Now" at Caltech. [8]

Qalambaaz

In 2014 Bilal initiated Qalambaaz, [9] a platform that provides mentors and nurtures the growth of screenplay writers through competition. The screenplay writing competition was recently launched at The Second Floor (T2F) under Bilal's banner Parveen Shah Productions. [10] Bilal clarifies that the platform does not promise funding for filmmakers, but guarantees a final product that can be sold as a possible feature film production. [11]

Filmography

YearTitleNotes
12009MarwaDirectorShort Film
22012Poshak/FacadeWriter, Editor, Director & ProducerShort Film
32013Kwaku AnanseWriterShort Film
32013 Josh: Independence Through Unity Writer, Director & ProducerFeature-length film.

Screened at 14th Mumbai Film Festival

42014 Dho Dala: The Sin Washer Writer, Editor, Director & ProducerShort Film
52015 Piled Higher and Deeper: Still in Grad School DirectorFeature-length film. Comedy.
62017 Extinction Editor, Director & ProducerShort Film [12]
72019 This is Personal DirectorDocumentary
82019DetainedWriterTV Pilot
92019 I'll Meet You There Writer, Director & ProducerFeature-length film [13]

SXSW 2020 [1] - Narrative Competition

92019 Wahkri Writer, Director & ProducerFeature-length film.

Cannes L'Atelier [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane Campion</span> New Zealand film director, screenwriter and producer

Dame Elizabeth Jane Campion is a New Zealand filmmaker. She is best known for writing and directing the critically acclaimed films The Piano (1993) and The Power of the Dog (2021), for which she has received two Academy Awards, two BAFTA Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards. Campion was appointed a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (DNZM) in the 2016 New Year Honours, for services to film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abida Parveen</span> Pakistani sufi singer

Abida Parveen is a Pakistani singer, composer, musician of Sufi music, painter and an entrepreneur. Parveen is one of the highest- paid singers in Pakistan. Her singing and music have earned her many accolades, and she has been dubbed the Queen of Sufi music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sean Baker (filmmaker)</span> American director, producer and screenwriter (born 1971)

Sean Baker is an American filmmaker. He is best known for directing independent feature films about the lives of marginalized people, especially sex workers. His films include Take Out (2004), Starlet (2012), Tangerine (2015), The Florida Project (2017), Red Rocket (2021), and Anora (2024), the last of which won him the Palme d'Or at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. He is also known for co-creating the Fox/IFC puppet sitcom Greg the Bunny (2002–2006) and its spin-offs.

Shih-Ching Tsou is a Taiwanese-American film producer, director, and actress. She co-directed the film Take Out (2004) with Sean Baker. She also produced Baker's other films Starlet (2012), Tangerine (2015), The Florida Project (2017) and Red Rocket (2021).

<i>Agent Vinod</i> (2012 film) 2012 film by Sriram Raghavan

Agent Vinod is a 2012 Indian Hindi-language action spy film written and directed by Sriram Raghavan produced by Saif Ali Khan and Dinesh Vijan. The film borrows its name from the 1977 film of the same name, and stars Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor in the lead roles, while Ram Kapoor, Prem Chopra, Shahbaz Khan and Adil Hussain appeared in prominent roles. Ravi Kishan made a special appearance in the film.

Suzi Yoonessi is an American filmmaker. She wrote and directed the award-winning feature film Dear Lemon Lima, and directed the Duplass Brothers film Unlovable and Daphne and Velma for Warner Brothers. Yoonessi's short films No Shoulder and Dear Lemon Lima are distributed by Shorts International and Vanguard Cinema and her documentary film Vern is distributed by National Film Network and is in the permanent collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Braden King is a New York–based filmmaker, photographer and visual artist. His feature film, Here (2011), starring Ben Foster and Lubna Azabal, premiered at the 2011 Sundance and Berlin Film Festivals and was distributed theatrically by Strand Releasing in 2012. A multimedia installation version of the project, Here [ The Story Sleeps ], premiered at The Museum of Modern Art in 2010 and toured internationally with live soundtrack accompaniment by composer Michael Krassner and Boxhead Ensemble. King's previous work includes the feature film Dutch Harbor: Where the Sea Breaks It's Back, the award-winning short film Home Movie and music videos for Glen Hansard, Sparklehorse, Sonic Youth, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy and Dirty Three.

<i>Josh: Independence Through Unity</i> 2012 film by Iram Parveen Bilal

Josh: Independence Through Unity is a 2013 Pakistani mystery thriller drama film written, directed and produced by Iram Parveen Bilal with co-producers Saad Bin Mujeeb and Kelly Thomas. Film was released at Eid-ul-Fitr in Pakistan and India on 10 August 2013. The film stars Aamina Sheikh, Mohib Mirza, Khalid Malik, Naveen Waqar, Adnan Shah, Kaiser Khan Nizamani, Parveen Akbar, Naila Jaffri, Salim Mairaj, Faizan Haqquee, Ali Rizvi in the ensemble cast.

<i>Kwaku Ananse</i> (film) 2013 Ghanaian film

Kwaku Ananse is a 2013 short film directed by Akosua Adoma Owusu. The short film combines semi-autobiographical elements with the tale of Kwaku Ananse, a trickster in West African and Caribbean stories who appears as both a spider and a man. The fable of Kwaku Ananse is combined with the story of a young outsider named Nyan Koronhwea, who attends her estranged father's funeral. At the funeral, she retreats to the woods in search of her father. The film starred legendary musician Koo Nimo and veteran actress Grace Omaboe.

<i>Share</i> (2015 film) 2015 American film

Share is a 2015 American short drama film written and directed by Pippa Bianco, and starring Taissa Farmiga, Keir Gilchrist, Madisen Beaty, and Andre Royo. It follows a teenage girl (Farmiga) as she returns to school after an explicit video of her goes viral online.

Iram Haq is a Norwegian-Pakistani actress, screenwriter and director, best known for her feature films I Am Yours and What Will People Say.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deniz Gamze Ergüven</span> Turkish-French film director

Deniz Gamze Ergüven is a Turkish-French film director best known for her debut feature film Mustang.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stella Meghie</span> Canadian filmmaker

Stella Meghie is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. She is known for her feature films Jean of the Joneses (2016), Everything, Everything (2017), The Weekend (2018), and The Photograph (2020). Meghie has also directed episodes for television series including Grown-ish, Insecure and First Wives Club.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juliana Rojas</span> Brazilian filmmaker (born 1981)

Juliana Rojas is a Brazilian filmmaker and editor born in Campinas, São Paulo. She graduated in Cinema in School of Communication and Arts of University of São Paulo.

<i>Ill Meet You There</i> (film) 2020 film by Iram Parveen Bilal

I'll Meet You There is a 2020 drama film written, directed and produced by Iram Parveen Bilal with co-producers Joy Ganes and Ilana Rossein. The film portrays a modern Pakistani-American family in Chicago, and stars Faran Tahir, Qavi Khan, Nikita Tewani, Sheetal Sheth, and Samrat Chakrabarti. It was nominated for the Narrative Feature Grand Jury Award at South by Southwest in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coralie Fargeat</span> French director and screenwriter (born 1976)

Coralie Fargeat is a French film director and screenwriter. She gained international recognition with her 2017 debut feature film Revenge, for which she received awards from several independent film festivals. This was followed by her second feature, The Substance (2024), a satirical body horror film starring Demi Moore, screened in the main competition at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, where Fargeat won the Best Screenplay award.

Lucas Leyva is an American director, screenwriter, and producer. He has written and directed multiple acclaimed short films, as well as several music videos for bands such as Arcade Fire, Jacuzzi Boys, and Hundred Waters. Leyva is the founder of the Borscht Film Festival and the Borscht Corporation.

Yulene Olaizola is a Mexican director, editor and producer. She graduated from the Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica (CCC). She won several awards for her debut film, "Intimacies of Shakespeare and Victor Hugo". She was selected to participate in "L’atelier" of the Cinefondation, designed to help filmmakers get in touch with producers, obtain international funding, and be part of the Cannes Film Festival.

Wakhri is a Pakistani film directed by Iram Parveen Bilal who co-produced it as well, and starring Faryal Mehmood in her debut film lead as a widowed school teacher who gets viral on social media. The film is inspired by the late social media celebrity Qandeel Baloch, who was murdered in 2016. The film had its world premiere in Red Sea International Film Festival in December 2023. It was later theatrically released on 5 January 2024 nationwide.

References

  1. 1 2 "I'll Meet You There". SXSW 2020 Schedule. Retrieved 2021-02-02.
  2. ↑ Deb, Sopan (2021-02-16). "A Pakistani-American Tale Upends Expectations Onscreen and in Life". The New York Times . Retrieved 2024-10-04.
  3. 1 2 "Caltech Alumni". Archived from the original on 30 December 2014. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
  4. ↑ "Meet the real Iram Parveen Bilal - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2017-09-15.
  5. ↑ "Ushering in the New-Wave of Pakistani Cinema: Iram Parveen Bilal - The Review Monk". The Review Monk. Retrieved 2017-09-15.
  6. 1 2 "L'Atelier 2019". Festival Cannes. March 4, 2019.
  7. ↑ "Iram Parveen Bilal". IFFR. 2015-09-04. Retrieved 2017-09-15.
  8. ↑ "Ted Conferences" . Retrieved 11 January 2015.
  9. ↑ "QALAMBAAZ | Parveen Shah Productions". Ipblsk. Retrieved 2021-02-02.
  10. ↑ "The Story Exchange". 17 January 2014. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
  11. ↑ Qamar, Saadia (21 August 2014). "Qalambaaz: In search of the perfect screenplay" . Retrieved 11 January 2015.
  12. ↑ Siddiqi, Aiman (2016-09-18). "Iram Parveen Bilal's Extinction takes a dig at Donald Trump". HIP. Archived from the original on 2017-09-15. Retrieved 2017-09-15.
  13. ↑ Ramachandran, Naman (2020-12-17). "Level Forward Acquires North American Rights for SXSW Title 'I'll Meet You There' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 2021-02-02.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.