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SANA A. MALIK

  • Film
  • Media
  • About
  • Contact
  • This is Worldtown
  • …  
    • Film
    • Media
    • About
    • Contact
    • This is Worldtown

    Director / Producer / Writer

     

    Founder of

    This is Worldtown

    SANA A. MALIK

    • Film
    • Media
    • About
    • Contact
    • This is Worldtown
    • …  
      • Film
      • Media
      • About
      • Contact
      • This is Worldtown

      Director / Producer / Writer

       

      Founder of

      This is Worldtown

      • Film
      • Media
      • About
      • Contact
      • This is Worldtown
      • Powered By
        Strikingly
        • Film

          Away, Together

          Written and Directed by: Sana A. Malik

          Winner: Santa Fe Independent Film Festival Best New Mexico Narrative Short

          Official Selection: WUTI, Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival

          Guanajuato Norte

          Watch Now on the New Yorker's Documentary Channel

          Written, Directed, Produced by: Ingrid Holmquist and Sana A. Malik

          Camera and Editing: Ingrid Holmquist and Sana A. Malik

          Winner: BAFTA Student Film Award 2019; Emerging Filmmaker Award Fayetteville Film Festival

        • Digital Media

          Guanajuato Norte (2019)

          Co-Director, Producer, Writer, Cinematographer, Editor

           

          A man from Guanajuato, Mexico who crossed the border to work on a farm in Connecticut contends with being away from his family for years to help support their dreams and build a new life for them.. Watch now on the New Yorker Documentary Channel.

           

          BBC Reel: The English tearoom that spans three continents (2019)

          Director, Camera, Producer, Editor

          Go to Polk County, Florida and eat at the town’s iconic British tea room. For 30 years, an immigrant family from Pakistan has run this popular tea room that comes to life with antique lace, curated china and a mother’s beloved recipes.

          BBC Reel: The Hijab-Friendly Hair Salon (2019)

          Director, Camera, Producer, Editor

          For many hijab-clad women, getting your hair done in a regular salon can prove to be an isolating experience. One woman decided to address that by starting the first women’s only salon in New York. Now, her business serves as a safe-haven where hijabi women can be pampered.

          Serving Time (2015)

          Director, Producer

          Life after Riker’s Island looks bleak for Frederick, a young man trying to make his way back into one of the most divided cities in the world, New York City. His attempts to find a job after years of incarceration lead to closed doors and unreturned phone calls. Without opportunities allowing for easier re-entry, the city’s recidivism rate is among the highest in the country. Now, a Maple-themed food truck — inspired by Quebecois cuisine — employs men like Frederick, providing them a chance to break away from a cycle of poverty and crime.

        • Bio

          Sana A. Malik is a director, producer, journalist and writer living in New York City. She co-directed the short doc GUANAJUATO NORTE, winner of the 2019 BAFTA Student Film Award, streaming on the New Yorker Magazine's Documentary Channel. She wrote and directed the short fiction film AWAY, TOGETHER that won awards at the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival and Toronto Reel Asian Film Fest.

          Her production credits include Frontline PBS, the BBC, AXIOS on HBO and MTV. She is the founder of an independent media platform for women of color visual storytellers called This is Worldtown. Sana founded an award-winning media and events company called This is Worldtown that is focused on Women of Color visual storytellers upending simplistic media narratives. Sana is constantly championing new ways of creating and thinking about more equitable media production, and she is a Member/Owner of the Meerkat Media Co-operative, working on film projects with clients ranging from Sesame Street to Netflix.

           

          Before making a full-time switch to documentary and journalistic filmmaking, Sana worked in public health risk communication in Tanzania and the U.K. and consulted for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. She is a graduate of Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, the University of London (LSHTM), and the University of Toronto. Sana grew up between London, U.K., Lahore, Pakistan and eastern Canada. She is a part of BAFTA's Newcomer Talent Program, a member of the Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective and Brown Girls Doc Mafia.

           

          Select work

          Writer / Director

          • Away, Together (2020) - Winner, Santa Fe Independent Film Festival; Recipient of the Move Mountains Filmmakers Grant
          • Guanajuato Norte (2020) - New Yorker Documentary Selection; Winner BAFTA Student Film Award 2019; Chagrin Film Festival
          • Serving Time (2015)
          Field Producer / Associate Producer
          • Axios on HBO Season 3: Ep. 317: Rep. Ilhan Omar; Ep. 318: Jon Osoff
          • Frontline PBS: Policing the Police 2020 (Airdate: Sept. 2020)
          • MTV True Life Crime: Killed for Gender Identity? The Kedarie Johnson Case (Airdate: Jan. 2020)

          Director/ DP / Producer / Editor

          • "The hijab-friendly hair salon" (BBC Reel May 2019)
          • "The English tea room that spans three continents" (BBC Reel April 2019)
          • "When Amazon becomes your next door neighbour" (BBC Capital November 2018)
          • "How successful women get it done" (BBC Capital April 2019)
          • "Why Do Workers' Rights Matter" The Toronto Star (2016)

          Producer / Series Producer

          • "A world heavyweight champion's guide to failure" (BBC Worklife Sept 2019)
          • The big business of fake hair (BBC Reel Aug 2019)
          • "The curvy queens redefining beauty norms" (BBC Reel May 2019)
          • "The country that changes your face" (BBC Reel May 2019)
          • "Colombia's indomitable horse whisperer" (BBC Travel May 2019)
          • "A place where people can remember the past" (BBC Reel May 2019)
          • "The woman travelling 12,000km by camel" (BBC Reel May 2019)
          • "How weddings in Pakistan can top 1,500 guests" (BBC Capital March 2019)

          Written

          • A Father's Day of Sacrifices. (Pulitzer Center, June 2019)
          • A Liberian Community Looks Forward in Historic Election. (New York City Lens, October 2017)
          • 'I'm accepted here.' Meet 4 students choosing Canada post Brexit and Trump. (CBC 2017, June 2017)
          • "Growing Up Muslim Showed Me That Canada Is Not Immune To Hate" (BuzzFeed, March 2017)
          • "Growing up in post-9/11 America: A Muslim Girl's Coming of Age" (i-D Magazine, October 2016)
          • "A call for creativity in Muslim modest wear" (i-D Magazine, January 2016)
          • "A Tribe Called Red: Dropping beats, fighting Indigenous Invisibility" (Featured in Best of rabble.ca 2014 collection)
          Select Exhibitions and Presentations
          • Mississauga Art Gallery: Unbound: Stories from Behind the Dust Group Show (2018)
          • Toronto Media Arts Center: Unbound: Stories from Behind the Dust Group Show (2018)
          • Creative Time Summit / Art Gallery of Ontario: Re-imagining Liberation: Women of Color and Reflective Storytelling (2017)
          • 6 Degrees Citizen Space: The Media DNA: Not Just A Black And White Issue (2017)

          Book

          • Editorial Assistant: "McSweeney's Patriot Acts: Narratives of Post-9/11 Injustice" (2011)
          Read more about This is Worldtown's journey:
          • This is Worldtown's women mediamakers are reshaping our media landscape (Featured post on Inspirit Foundation's blog)
          • This is Worldtown is dedicated to telling the stories of women of colour (J-Source.com)
          • Walls that need to go: Ideas for a more inclusive world (Opencanada.org)
          Visit This is Worldtown to see women of color led storytelling.
        • Contact

          sana@thisisworldtown.com

        Copyright 2014

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