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Film
Sculpting in Time
An award winning filmmaker
Faisal Azam is an award-winning filmmaker who has worked extensively as an editor and is best known for the Oscar-nominated documentary short St. Louis Superman. He also edited Salar, which won Best Dramatic Short at the Austin Film Festival and was shortlisted for an Academy Award, and Without Shepherds, a Grand Prize Winner at the Brooklyn Film Festival that he edited and co-produced. Faisal’s latest film, which he wrote, edited, and co-directed, is the upcoming feature documentary The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu, based loosely on the New York Times bestselling book of the same name. Faisal’s work has been featured at Sundance, Tribeca, Clermont-Ferrand, Big Sky, Hot Docs, and BFI London. In 2016, Faisal co-wrote H8, which was a top ten finalist in numerous national competitions and won WeScreenplay’s TV Pilot Contest. Born in Karachi, Pakistan, Faisal grew up in the Middle East and immigrated to the US at age 15. He graduated magna cum laude from UC Berkeley with a degree in Rhetoric.
Photography
An American Circus
A documentary photo series
This series is my brief record of both the Republican and Democratic conventions, which I attended while on a job for the data-driven politics website FiveThirtyEight. It’s hard now, in 2019, to look back at these photographs objectively in light of how things have turned out. And yet, even at the height of the conventions, there were chilling signs of what might come. Viewing Donald Trump’s acceptance speech in person from the RNC was perhaps the first time during the election that I felt afraid of what a Trump presidency might mean for America as a nation, and for me personally as a minority American with a Muslim name.
Writing
H8
Second Place Winner: WeScreenplay Television Pilot 2018 Screenwriting Contest
When minority children start going missing in a small Southern town, two exceptional FBI agents—one Black, one Pakistani-American—with colliding worldviews are called in to investigate. What they uncover reveals the heart of hatred in America and a vast, sinister conspiracy.
H8 captures the zeitgeist and brings something completely fresh to TV: New heroes and an unflinching examination of polarizing realities—from race and religion to the psychology of hate. Ostensibly a mystery, the larger subject of the show is the intolerance and bigotry simmering beneath the surface in America, a veritable powder-keg on the verge of exploding in the age of Trump. At a time when partisan social media debates, fake news and the mainstreaming of extremism threaten to tear us apart, H8 will give us something bigger than another cop show or crime to solve. It is an exploration of the human condition at this complicated historical moment, when the national culture at large is in the throes of an existential crisis.
“I honestly cannot recommend Faisal Azam highly enough. I could gush on for hours but I appreciate the importance of your time so let me just say three things: 1. possibly the most intelligent person I have ever met - but never makes me feel stupid; 2. impeccably professional, punctual, well-organized, and a technical whiz; and 3. the best bedside manners of anyone I've worked with - sincerely - clients will love him. Please, if he is not yet on your radar, keep an eye out for him - I truly believe you will not be disappointed.”
– Malcolm Jamieson, Editor - Mad Men, Nurse Jackie
“I met Faisal when he came to Dan Rather Reports to work on an investigative story about Operation Streamline, a federal immigration program that fast-tracks detainees for guilty pleas and deportation. It's a nuanced and complicated topic and Faisal approached it with tremendous sensitivity. We work in a medium in which the manipulation of viewers' emotions can often be easily accomplished. Yet Faisal has an admirable commitment to portraying what is true and fair. An objective storyteller, he sought to present all sides of the story without a distorted filter. In the end, the piece had power and impact, but it came about honestly. In Faisal I see all the qualities one would hope for in an outstanding filmmaker: technical proficiency, sound editorial judgment and unbounded passion and curiosity. I also see perhaps that most special quality, which is the eagerness to learn and expand his horizons.”
– Elliot Kirschner, Senior Producer - Dan Rather Reports
“When I was looking for an editor for my first foray into film, the sci-fi short Photographic Memory, I wanted someone who possessed dynamic creativity, technical expertise, an acute eye for story, and a vast knowledge of film—from experimental and avant-garde to obscure foreign and Hollywood blockbusters. Faisal Azam is the embodiment of all those things and more. His enthusiastic and meticulous ability to enhance, and even create, a film in the editing process is invaluable. Not only did I find someone whose indelible mark produced an artistic and thought-provoking work, I found a great friend and collaborator.”
– Kelvin C. Bias, Filmmaker & Author
“I have had the pleasure of working closely with Faisal Azam on a number of film and new media projects over the last few years and most recently hired him to supervise the visual elements of an evening length film and music concert that I was commissioned to perform in by the Association of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). During this project and the many before it, I have been continually impressed with Faisal's ability to imbue images with layered emotion and by his innate skill to assemble meaningful stories through image choice, symbolic reference and temporal pacing. A true visual storyteller; his sum is always greater than the parts he begins with.”
– John Plenge, Award-Winning Composer
“Faisal Azam is, quite simply, a tremendous human being. As a peer working in the same field as Faisal, I have found a lot of inspiration in the way he conducts himself professionally. Faisal represents the best of what editing has to offer to the filmmaking process. His peaceful and peacemaking disposition fosters a collaborative environment that is inclusive and centers around pursuing the best idea in the room. His curiosity and boldness means that he is a constant source of 'fresh eyes' and outside the box thinking that every postproduction process needs. And the maturity and grace with which he conducts his career makes him a stellar example and advocate of the profession.”
