Anita Abbasi

Anita Abbasi is a writer-director based in Tkarón:to (Toronto). Hailing from two disparate immigrant backgrounds — Pakistan & El Salvador — Anita’s work explores diasporic identity, (dis)connection to the “motherland”, our desire to be loved and Western popular culture. Cinema, music and laughter have always been places of belonging for her. As such, her stories, though mainly drama, often cross genres into comedy and dance musicals. She holds a BA in Creative Writing and Art History, and studied film directing under Deepa Mehta. She has produced three short films with co-director, Martin Baena: The Talent Scout (2015), French Poutine (2016) and Mariah ¡qué baile! (2017), the latter screening in several U.S. cities in 2018. Her first feature, Saturday Fuego Diablo, is in development with Eagle Vision Canada and was written with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.

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