Name: Hena Ashraf

Recipient Year: 2016|2019

Sponsor: Faran Tahir Scholarship

Link to Trailer: https://henaashraf.com/2021/05/24/thereturn/

Name of Film: The Return

Description: Hena Ashraf is a writer-director who creates character-based multi-layered narratives, showing how truly connected we all are with the specific being universal, focusing primarily on stories about migrants and migrant life, as migration is such a common, while disruptive, experience. Born in London to Bihari Muslim working-class parents from India, she spent her early years in the United Kingdom before im/migrating to America. Hena’s work has been supported by the Brooklyn Arts Council, Tribeca Film Institute, the Islamic Scholarship Fund, the Norris Foundation, BAFTA Los Angeles, MPAA, Wasserman, the Adrienne Shelly Foundation, an ISF National Film Grant, Telluride FilmLAB, the Caucus Foundation, and more. Her films have screened at Outfest, Dharamshala, DOC NYC, and dozens of more festivals. Hena has an MFA in Film Directing from UCLA and is based in Los Angeles.

LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/henaashraf/