Computer-scientist-turned-filmmaker, Afia Nathaniel, loves to create worlds within worlds. Moving fluidly between genres, she crafts epic journeys for the screen with deeply nuanced characters. Her special love for drama, thrillers, sci-fi, fantasy and supernatural promise to take her…and you…into surprising territory.

bIOGRAPHY

Raised between Lahore and air force bases, Afia grew up with a deep love for fighter jet planes, long road trips and discovering worlds hiding in plain sight. 

Afia directed an episode of Chicago Med (NBCU Female Forward) in 2022 and became the first Pakistani-American female director to be hired by a US network/studio in episodic directing for one-hour dramas.

With Dukhtar (Daughter), Afia became the first South Asian female director whose debut feature is a road trip thriller - genres usually reserved for men. Dukhtar premiered to a rousing reception at Toronto (2014) becoming Pakistan’s Official Submission for Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards®. The film played to critical acclaim in over 20 countries to rave reviews and became the Critics’ Pick (Village Voice) and the People Magazine’s Pick of the Week. The film has won several awards including Adrienne Shelly award for Directors, Audience Award at Creteil, Best World Feature at Sonoma, Best Director + Best Feature Film at SAIFF.

Afia has been featured in the Variety, NYT, Indiewire, NPR, Huffington Post and Screen Daily. Variety says, “Nathaniel proves her mettle in a national industry where distaff directors are rare” with Indiewire labeling Dukhtar as “groundbreaking”, New York Times calling it “exquisite” and LA Times billing it as a “gorgeous, suspenseful cinematic achievement”.

Dukhtar was nominated for a Gotham award (2013) and the Women Film Critics Circle award (2015) for the “Best Foreign Film by or About Women”. Afia’s screenplay for Dukhtar has been invited to the Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences as part of their Permanent Core Collection.

Through her films, Afia explores pressing social justice issues of our times which a critic lauded as “a stunning, emotive work that takes to task oppressive patriarchy”.

In Pakistan, Afia - a mathematician and computer scientist by training - turned to advertising to fulfill her love for storytelling. She joined as an intern and within a few months headed the Creative Department of Publicis Pakistan. She developed TV, radio and print campaigns for clients like L’Oreal, HP, Volvo and Nestle. This gave her the bug to chart her own path as a filmmaker.

Afia graduated from Columbia University with an MFA in Film Directing (Dean’s Fellow). She is an alumnus of Gotham, Tribeca Film Institute, Film Independent and Berlin Talent Project Market. Her work has received support from HBO, Netflix, National Geographic, Tribeca Film Institute, Cinereach, Women in Film, New York Foundation for the Arts, International Film Festival Rotterdam, SorFond (Films from the South), The Caucus Foundation, NYSCA + Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

Afia has taught Film/TV courses at: Columbia, Princeton, Tisch and Temple. She is also a generous mentor to other filmmakers through IFP’s Narrative Labs.

When Afia is not teaching or cooking, she is busy developing TV shows. One of them Watched, a show set in a post 9/11 New York city, looks at the lives of young Muslims whose families and communities have been torn apart by surveillance. The pilot project won an inaugural development grant from Warner150 and IFP/Gotham.

Afia is repped by Echo Lake Entertainment.