Fawzia Mirza
Born
Fawzia Mirza
EducationChicago-Kent College of Law
Indiana University Bloomington
Occupation(s)Director, Writer, Producer, Actor
Years active2006-Present
Known forWriting, Filmmaking, Queer Muslim Advocate
Notable workSignature Move, The Red Line, Noor & Layla, Me My Mom & Sharmila

Fawzia Mirza is a Canadian film and TV actress, writer, producer, and director. Her work includes web series Kam Kardashian and Brown Girl Problems, and the 2017 film Signature Move.[1][2]

Personal life

Mirza was born in London, Ontario, Canada, and grew up in Sydney, Nova Scotia. Her parents were born in India and migrated to Pakistan; they eventually moved to Indiana, where Mirza finished high school before relocating to Chicago.

Mirza came out as a Muslim lesbian in 2016, and describes herself as "a lesbian, Muslim, Pakistani, actor, activist, writer, producer, lawyer and creature of passion".[3][4][5]

Film and web series

Mirza majored in English and political science at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana and then moved to Chicago for law school at Chicago-Kent College of Law. After two and a half years of working as a litigator, she changed professions to become an actor. She has focused on projects relating to the LGBT community, particularly relating to being a queer Muslim woman, "to gain visibility for women and Brown performers, and find space for queer stories".

Her first short film The Queen of My Dreams she co-wrote, co-directed with collaborator Ryan Logan. As a young girl, Fawzia Mirza fell under the spell of Bollywood heroines and their promise of love and feminine perfection. As an adult, she looks back and re-imagines the epic romance in the classic film Aradhana, in a queer light.[6]

Her one-woman show Me, My Mom and Sharmila explores growing up queer and South Asian; in 2015 she performed it at the International Theatre Festival at the National College of Arts in Lahore. Also in 2015, she appeared in Emmy-nominated Her Story, a six-part series on the lives of trans and queer women. Mirza plays Ayesha Ali Trump, a fictional Muslim daughter of Donald Trump, in the mockumentary The Muslim Trump Documentary. She has made a number of award-winning short films including The First Session, Spunkle, Reclaiming Pakistan, The Streets Are Ours, Saya and I Know Her..

In 2016, she announced her film Signature Move (2017) starring Shabana Azmi in the role of her mother. Fawzia produced, starred in and co-wrote with Lisa Donato. The film world premiered at SXSW and won over 14 awards all over the world, including the Jury Prize for US Narrative at Outfest, Best Narrative Film at Columbus International, Best Director and Best Actress at Out San Diego, Audience Award for Best Narrative in Connecticut, and Mirza won a Jury prize at the Canadian South Asian Mosaic Film Festival. The film was inspired by her actual ex-girlfriend and their relationship in the city of Chicago.[7]

She wrote for the CBS show The Red Line executive produced by Ava Duvernay and Greg Berlanti. Her episode marked the first instance of a gay-Muslim romance on network television.[8]

In 2020, her feature screenplay adaptation of The Queen of My Dreams was accepted into the Toronto International Film Festival Writers Studio and Filmmaker Lab, under the working title Me, My Mom & Sharmila. She was one of five women selected to FUSE 2, Paul Feig's writer/director incubator program and will develop a short film with Powderkeg in 2021. In 2021, she was added to Peter Luo's Starlight Media's Stars Collective.[9]

Filmography

Year Film/Series Role Notes
2011 Fair & Lovely Writer / Producer / Star Commercial Spoof
2012 The Queen of My Dreams Co-Director / Writer / Producer / Star Short Film. later expanded into her 2023 feature debut
2012 Kam Kardashian Co-Writer / Producer / Star Web Series
2014 Brown Girl Problems Writer / Producer / Star Web Series
2015 The First Session Writer / Producer / Star Short Film
2015 Reclaiming Pakistan Writer / Producer / Narrator Short Doc
2016 The Muslim Trump Writer / Producer / Star Mockumentary
2016 The Streets Are Ours Writer / Producer / Subject Short Doc
2016 Spunkle Co-Writer / Producer / Star Short Film
2017 Two Lesbians In Search of Allah Co-Creator / Star Short Doc
2017 Burger King: Anti-Bullying PSA Subject PSA / Commercial
2017 You Should Know This By Now Writer / Producer / Star Web Series
2017 Signature Move Co-Writer / Producer / Star Feature Film
2019 Saya (Shadow) Co-Director / Writer / Producer / Star Short Film
2019 I Know Her Director / Writer / Producer / Star Short Film
2020 Hidden Canyons Director Web Series
2020 Un Oeuf Director / Producer / Star / Editor Short Film
2020 Jiyo (Live) Director / Writer / Producer Short Film
2021 Noor & Layla Director / Writer Short Film
2021 The Syed Family Xmas Eve Game Night Director / Writer Short Film
2023 The Queen of My Dreams Director / Writer Feature film

References

  1. ↑ "Kam Kardashian web series worth watching". Chicago Tribune. 2013-04-25. Retrieved 2016-02-08.
  2. ↑ Wicklund, Joel. "Newcity Pushes Its Indie Cred Into Filmmaking". Chicagoist. Archived from the original on 2016-01-03. Retrieved 2016-02-08.
  3. ↑ "I was told it's dangerous for me, a Pakistani lesbian in America: Fawzia Mirza". Dawn. 23 August 2016. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  4. ↑ Raman, Sruthi Ganapathy (May 27, 2017). "In 'Signature Move' film, queer identity, wrestling, secrets and Shabana Azmi for a mother". Scroll.in. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  5. ↑ Spont-Lemus, Marya (February 13, 2019). "Beyond the Page: Fawzia Mirza". Sixty Inches From Center. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  6. ↑ "The Queen of My Dreams | IFFLA". Retrieved 2021-02-17.
  7. ↑ "We Talked to the Queer Filmmaker Who Did Feminist Wrestling Before 'Glow'". www.vice.com. 21 July 2017. Retrieved 2021-02-17.
  8. ↑ Lang, Nico (2019-05-29). "Queer Muslims Are Still Rare on TV. One Writer Wants to Change That. (Published 2019)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-02-17.
  9. ↑ "Star's Collective | Starlight Entertainment". Retrieved 2021-02-17.
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