Nida Naima Manzoor | |
---|---|
Born | September 1989 |
Nationality | British |
Occupation(s) | Screenwriter and director |
Years active | 2013–present |
Nida Manzoor is a British screenwriter and director. She is best known for creating the Channel 4/Peacock comedy show We Are Lady Parts , for which she won the 2021 Rose d'Or Emerging Talent Award and the 2022 BAFTA for TV Comedy Screenwriting. The series has also won her two Peabody Awards. [1] She released her debut feature film Polite Society in 2023, which earned her the 2023 British Independent Film Award for Debut Screenwriting.
Nida Manzoor grew up in a Pakistani Muslim family. [2] [3] Her family lived in Singapore until she was 10, later moving to London. [4]
She was raised in a musical household, and was bought her first guitar by her father when she was eight. [5] Manzoor has described music as her "first passion", and is quoted as saying "I wanted to be a brown girl Bob Dylan before I wanted to do screenwriting." [6] She also started writing at a young age. Manzoor describes being encouraged by her grandfather, who kept anything she wrote in a file. [6] Manzoor's childhood influences included Jackie Chan films, the Coen Brothers, Edgar Wright, and old Hollywood cinema. [7]
She attended the fee-paying St James School in London. [8]
She graduated from University College London (UCL) with a degree in politics in 2011. [9] While at university, Manzoor was involved in UCL's Film Society. [7] Manzoor's family had expected her to do a law conversion course and become a human rights lawyer, [4] but she convinced them to allow her to pursue a career in filmmaking.
Manzoor started her film career working as a runner in Soho. [7] She went on to obtain jobs as a screenwriter, working for the CBBC. After early shorts like Layla and Arcade, she wrote episodes for Dixi and Jamillah and Aladdin in 2016. [10]
Manzoor's first directing role was on the first series of Enterprice , released in 2018. [11] In 2018, she was also commissioned to make a pilot episode (titled "Lady Parts") for what would become We Are Lady Parts . She wrote and directed the episode. [12] After the episode was screened, there was substantial backlash regarding her portrayal of Muslim women, leading her to close her social media accounts. [13] She also directed a comedy pilot, Hounslow Diaries, which was screened on BBC Three in 2018. [14]
She directed two episodes of Doctor Who , "Fugitive of the Judoon" and "Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror", shown in 2020. [15]
We Are Lady Parts proceeded to a full series in 2021, written, directed, and executive produced by Manzoor. She has said the series is somewhat autobiographical. [16] She has cited This is Spinal Tap and The Young Ones as influences for the series. [17] Manzoor co-wrote the music with her siblings Shez Manzoor and Sanya Manzoor, and with her brother-in-law Benjamin 'Benni' Fregin. [7] A soundtrack album from the series was released digitally. [18] The show was renewed for a second series in November 2021. [19]
As of 2021, Manzoor is part of the Pillars Artist Fellowship Advisory Board. [20]
Production on Manzoor's debut feature film, Polite Society , was completed in early 2022 and was released in the UK in April 2023. The film stars Priya Kansara and Ritu Arya, and distributed internationally by Universal Pictures. [21] [22]
In 2015, Manzoor was named among Broadcast Magazine's Hot Shots for her short film 7.2. [7]
She won best Director in Comedy Drama/Situation Comedy from the Royal Television Society Craft & Design Awards 2019 for her work on Enterprice. [23]
In November 2021, Manzoor was awarded the 2021 Rose d'Or Emerging Talent Award for her work on Lady Parts. [19] [24] In 2022, she won the BAFTA for TV Comedy Screenwriting for Lady Parts. [25]
She won the British Independent Film Award for Debut Screenwriting for Polite Society in 2023. [26]
Year | Title | Credited as | Notes | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Writer | Director | Producer | |||
2013 | Layla | Yes | Yes | Yes | Short film |
2013 | Arcade | Yes | Yes | Short film | |
2014 | 7.2 | Yes | Yes | Short film | |
2023 | Polite Society | Yes | Yes | No | Feature film |
Year | Title | Credited as | Notes | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Writer | Director | Producer | |||
2016 | Dixi | Yes | 6 episodes | ||
2016 | Jamillah and Aladdin | Yes | 3 episodes | ||
2017 | Halloween Comedy Shorts | Yes | Episode: "A Deal" | ||
2017–2018 | Enterprice | Yes | 5 episodes | ||
2018 | Hounslow Diaries | Yes | Television pilot | ||
2018–present | We Are Lady Parts | Yes | Yes | Associate | 7 episodes; also creator and co-composer |
2020 | Doctor Who | Yes | 2 episodes: "Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror" and "Fugitive of the Judoon" |