Today we’d like to introduce you to Shehryar Mir
Hi Shehryar, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I was born and raised in Pakistan where, from a very young age, I was pretty certain I wanted to be a party of some storytelling venture, and I spent a long time looking for the best medium towards that end. After I graduated from college (also in Pakistan), I spent several years working in different creative capacities.
I started out in advertising as a copywriter, then moving to screenwriting for television commercials, then transitioning to documentary filmmaking where I took on several roles, from research to editing and nearly everything in between.
Given the nature of my work in documentary filmmaking, I developed an interest in themes exploring religion, politics and self expression, some of the major fault lines in that part of the world. I eventually applied for and was awarded a scholarship by the Fulbright program, which is one of the most prestigious and widely recognized scholarship programs in the world, and it was through this program that I was able to come to the US two years ago to explore the themes I mentioned above, in the creative environment of the city of Los Angeles.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
One of the primary challenges of working in documentary filmmaking, in Pakistan, was trying to navigate the sensitivity of the themes mentioned earlier, without compromising one’s creative vision. This required a lot of experimentation with different formats and storytelling techniques to be able to say what we want to say in a way that is effective and in a language understandable to the masses.
I then had to unlearn all those ways in Los Angeles where I have an audience that consumes films in a very different way, while also adapting to the more complex set of structures set in place to make films here.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I write and direct, and my primary goal is to create work that will hopefully help further progressive values. A lot of my work is informed by the many different identities I carry, primarily my Pakistani identity within the context of a larger South Asian identity.
In my time in Los Angeles, I’ve made short films that explore the dynamics of power. My films have mostly been dark comedies and satire, and I find that to be an effective way to help make apparent life’s many absurdities. I’ve also engaged in some fun, campy, experimental work during my time in school in LA that has helped me sharpen my skills in some of the more technical aspects of filmmaking.
I’m not opposed to trying any genre or working in any medium that can help further my primary goal. In the last 5 years that I’ve been working professionally, I’ve kept that at the core of whatever I create.
On the documentary/non-fiction side of things, I’ve worked with several non-profits in Pakistan, and the work I’m most proud of is a set of commercials that I wrote for an organization that works to promote pluralism and interfaith harmony, and facilitate de-radicalization.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
The best form of support anyone in a creative field can ask for is funding! Any support to that can help bring our ideas to life can go a long way in helping us tell our (collective) stories authentically.
I’m also very open to collaborating with other creatives, particularly in producing or helping with the development of ideas that are based in a South Asian context. I’m reachable on LinkedIn, the link to which should be found near the end of this article!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://vimeo.com/shehryarmir
- Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm16049281/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk
