Graduate Associate
Master's Student
Graduate Program in Cinema and Media Studies
Research Keywords:
Cinema; state violence; occupation; visual politics
Research Region(s):
Pakistan, South Asia
Anam Abbas is a Pakistani/Canadian filmmaker producing work through her company, Other Memory Media, in Canada and Pakistan. As a producer and DOP her first feature "Showgirls of Pakistan," winner of the Best Pitch Award at the 2016 Hotdocs Forum, premiered in competition at IDFA 2020 and was released globally by VICE in 2021.
Anam's first feature documentary as a Director, "This Stained Dawn" (Dagh Dagh Ujala), follows the feminist activists who organize the "Aurat March" in Pakistan. It premiered in International Competition at the 2021Sheffield Doc Fest and has won awards in Canada, USA and India. Her first fiction feature, "In Flames," directed by Zarrar Kahn, had its World Premiere at Director's Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival 2023, won the Golden Yusr for Best Picture at the Red Sea FF, the International Newcomer Award at Mannheim-Heidelberg FF, the best First Feature CSA and was Pakistan’s Entry for Best International Picture for the 2024 Academy Awards.
Anam is also one of the founding members of the Documentary Association of Pakistan (DAP). She has served as Adjunct Faculty at the Indus Valley School of Arts and Architecture in Karachi, Pakistan.