American filmmaker Afia Nathaniel has roots in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Her debut feature film “Dukhtar” (Daughter) premiered at Toronto (2014) becoming Pakistan’s Official Submission for Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards®. The film played to critical acclaim in over 20 countries to rave reviews and became the Critics’ Pick (Village Voice) and the People Magazine’s Pick of the Week. The film has won several awards including Adrienne Shelly award for Directors, Audience Award at Creteil, Best World Feature at Sonoma, Best Director + Best Feature Film at SAIFF. “Dukhtar” was nominated for a Gotham award and the Women Film Critics Circle award for the “Best Foreign Film by or About Women”. The screenplay for “Dukhtar” has been invited to the Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences as part of their Permanent Core Collection.
Afia graduated from Columbia University with an MFA in Film Directing (Dean’s Fellow). She is an alumnus of IFP, TFI, Film Independent and Berlin Talent Project Market. Afia teaches directing and screenwriting at Temple University. She has also taught at Columbia University’s Graduate Film Division, Princeton University (Peter B. Lewis Fellow) and NYU’s Tisch. Afia is in development with several TV projects. Her pilot screenplay adaptation for the novel Watched won a development grant from Warner150 and IFP. Her immigrant drama “Naaz” was featured “On our Radar 2021” by Creative Capital. She is also working on a crime thriller set in Asia.