By Katie Chambers
Welcome to NYWIFT, Aisha Amin!
Aisha is an NYC-based writer and director. As a director, her work expands across narrative, documentary, and experimental forms to tell authentic stories built from real experiences. Her past film projects have explored and highlighted overlooked communities particularly in New York City, including formerly incarcerated mothers and communities struggling with the presence of gentrification in their neighborhoods.
In addition to her directing, Aisha is an emerging screenwriting and was selected to participate in Cine Qua Non’s 2022 Screenwriting Lab. She is a 2022 recipient of NYFA’s Tomorrowland Grant and a 2021 recipient of the NYFA Women’s Fund grant. She was a recipient of the 2019-2020 Sally Burns Shenkman Woman Filmmaker Fellowship at the Jacob Burns Film Center where she directed two short documentaries. She is also a recipient of The Shed’s Open Call Fellowship where she expanded her film practice to installation art.
Aisha spoke to us about her favorite styles of storytelling, the intersection of narrative and documentary, and her latest projects.
NYWIFT Member Aisha Amin
Tell us about yourself – give us your elevator pitch!
I’m Aisha! I’m a NYC based writer and director. I was born in Nairobi, Kenya and my family moved to New York when I was really young – so this city is a huge part of my life and my work. I’m interested in telling stories about community resilience within immigrant communities. I work across documentary, narrative and experimental forms of filmmaking and I am interested in exploring new modes of watching and experiencing film and storytelling.
You work across many mediums and genres, from narrative to documentary to commercial to experimental. What is the throughline that ties all of your work together? How do you shift gears when switching from one type of work to the next?
All of my storytelling is very much rooted in truth and authentic experiences. I find that the more specific and detailed we are with our experiences, the more universally they are received. I’m interested in having a conversation with an audience and using film as a form of education and awareness, but also as a filmmaker, it’s my attempt at fostering connection and I think that can be done across a diverse array of genres and forms of storytelling.
I saw you were selected for Issa Rae’s inaugural Color Creative For your People Program. That’s amazing! What was that experience like? How did it help you develop as an artist?
Actually, we are going into production on a short film that was funded through this production in the Winter of 2023. It has been a wonderful experience and the first time I have directed a film that I didn’t also write. While challenging, it taught me some really valuable people skills, communication skills, and made me really aware of how my ideas will come across to those that don’t necessarily share the same references of experiences I do.
Congratulations on your recent recognition as a NYWIFT Outstanding Content Creator at the Katra Film Series! Tell us more about that project.
Thank you! Screening at Katra was wonderful – I am grateful to be a part of a community that values short filmmaking and independent storytellers – it’s rare that shorts get much attention within the industry but it’s my favorite form to work in, and for Katra to be able to celebrate that means a lot to me.
What kinds of projects excite you?
I’m most excited by working with non-actors, and exploring that line between fiction and documentary. I love using locations that are real and lived-in, and I am excited by projects that are integrated with real lived experience.
What is the best advice you ever received? And the worst?
Best: Your worth isn’t tied to what you make
Worst: Go out there and film something on your iPhone, it’s just as good!
And what is next for you?
I have a couple more short narrative films in the pipeline and am working on finishing up writing my first feature film!
Connect with Aisha Amin on Instagram at @aisha____amin and on her website www.aishaamin.com.
Katie Chambers
Related Posts
NYWIFT Member Juleyka Lantigua Brings The Lorraine to Tribeca Festival’s 25th Anniversary Celebration
For filmmaker, writer, and producer Juleyka Lantigua, storytelling has always been rooted in truth, history, and the voices too often left out of the conversation. Now, the award-winning creative and proud member of New York Women in Film & Television is bringing one of those powerful stories to the forefront as an Executive Producer and Co-Writer of The Lorraine, which will have its World Premiere during the 25th anniversary of the Tribeca Festival. Through the lens of The Lorraine, Juleyka helps illuminate the legacy of the Lorraine Motel and the Bailey family, whose impact stretched far beyond the historic events forever tied to the Memphis landmark. The documentary explores Black excellence, resilience, entrepreneurship, music history, and the enduring fight for justice during one of America’s most turbulent eras.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Bonnie Gross
Welcome to NYWIFT, Bonnie Gross! Bonnie Gross is a multi-faceted filmmaker whose dynamic expertise has led to an acclaimed career in writing, producing, and post-production. She draws from personal experience and her natural aptitude for comedy writing to create narratives that are at once clever, boundary-pushing, and relatable. Her newest autobiographical film, Lady Parts – which has won numerous international awards – exemplifies her experience and talent. It is also a reflection of her mission to spread awareness for women living with vulvovaginal and pelvic pain, an experience that Bonnie personally lived through. Based in New York City, Bonnie co-owns the NYC boutique finishing house Brainwomb and has worked on numerous media projects, television shows and films.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Jessica Heyman
Welcome to NYWIFT, Jessica Heyman! Jessica is the Founder and Director of Art for Film, a Brooklyn-based company that connects the art world with the film and television industry by providing high-quality, legally cleared artwork for productions. A New York City native, Jessica studied at Barnard College before pivoting from work in social justice and education to the film industry, where she recognized a gap in the market for cleared artwork in New York productions and went on to found Art for Film. Since launching the company in 2006, she has built Art for Film into a trusted resource for set decorators and creative teams, representing a diverse roster of more than 100 artists and placing artwork in thousands of films, television shows, and commercials, including Succession, Mean Girls, and Only Murders in the Building. In our interview, Jessica discussed her path in the film and art worlds, her commitment to artist advocacy, and lessons from building a women-owned business.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Chicava Roslyn Tate
Welcome to NYWIFT, Chicava Roslyn Tate! Chicava is a burlesque artist, actor, producer, and leading scholar of Black women in burlesque. For more than 15 years, she served as Creative Producer of New York City's Brown Girls Burlesque, developing political and theatrical shows across the United States and internationally. She holds an MFA from Goddard College, where her studies focused on Black burlesque herstory, Taoism, and sacred sexuality. Chicava’s work spans performance, film, and scholarship, including directing The Skin I’m In, co-writing and directing Becoming Betty Page, and developing the docu-series Black Bombshells, which explores the history and cultural legacy of Black women in burlesque and pinup. As an actor, she has appeared in Chock Full Till Empty, Nicole Franklin’s Title VII, and Spike Lee’s film She Hate Me. In our interview, Chicava reflected on her creative journey, the overlooked history of Black women in burlesque, and the projects she is developing to preserve and celebrate this cultural legacy.
READ MORE
Comments are closed