RespectAbility Entertainment Professionals Lab, Summer 2019
Shireen Alihaji
Shireen Alihaji is a First Gen, Ecuadorian-Iranian, Muslim and Disabled filmmaker. Her intersections inspire her to create space through film technologies. Given how we remember is pivotal to healing, her films use memory as a central gaze to de-internalize surveillance, uncensor the imagination and mirror our infinite reflections.
She Co-Authored Flipping the Gaze Restorative Filmmaking Techniques and served as Artist Support for the Islamic Scholarship Fund where she co-created Muslim-Centered film programming; an evolving framework that supports Muslim filmmakers to restore, center and define their narratives. Today, Shireen is a student of UCLA Arts Healing and is prototyping a creative lab for caregivers.
In addition to RespectAbility, Shireen has received support from Sundance Institute, The Black List, the Cannes List, The Gotham, NALIP, Athena Film Festival and Women in Film.
LEARN MORE
After an extensive search and interview process, 22 individuals were invited to participate in RespectAbility’s Summer 2019 Lab for Entertainment Professionals. This 5-week, nine-session innovative summer lab series for people interested in – and with experience in – development, production and post-production, including careers as writers, directors, producers, cinematographers, animators and other production roles, takes place June 18 – July 18, 2019. Participants include diverse people with physical, cognitive, sensory, mental health and other disabilities. Learn more: www.respectability.org/respectability-la-lab.
This program, which continues building the talent pipeline of young professionals with disabilities looking to work behind the scenes, is made possible with support by: Comcast NBCUniversal, Jonathan Murray and The Walt Disney Company.
