Biography

Nausheen Dadabhoy, is a Pakistani-American director and cinematographer whose work spans fiction and documentary films. As a cinematographer her credits include LA FEMME ET LE TGV (2016), a live action short film Oscar nominee, Emmy winning ARMED WITH FAITH (2018), Emmy nominated NOT DONE: WOMEN REMAKING AMERICA (2020) and CONSCIENCE POINT (2019) which all aired nationally on PBS. Nausheen's films have screened at festivals worldwide including Sundance, TIFF, Tribeca, Locarno and have appeared on Netflix, HBO, Hulu and Showtime. THE GROUND BENEATH THEIR FEET (2014) — her directorial debut following two Pakistani women who were paralyzed after an earthquake — premiered at IDFA in the first appearance competition. Her second feature film, AN ACT OF WORSHIP, about the last 30 years of Muslim life in America premiered in competition at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival and will air on POV. She is currently developing an iTVS funded short documentary entitled, HALAL BODIES, about how Muslim-American children learn about sex. Nausheen has been a Film Independent Project:Involve Fellow (2011), a Berlin Talents participant (2017), a Firelight Fellow (2018), a Chicken & Egg Eggcelerator Lab Fellow (2019), a newportFILM Documentary Cinematography Fellow (2019), a Soros Equality Fellow (2020) and she is currently a Pillars Artist Fellow (2022). She was part of DOCNYC’s inaugural “40 Under 40” which features the talented and diverse voices in documentary filmmaking today. In addition to her work as a filmmaker Nausheen also works as an educator. She was recently a lecturer at the University of California Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and previously a visiting faculty member at Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology in Karachi, Pakistan. She has conducted workshops at SUNY Purchase, Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, Claremont McKenna College, and Bard College. She’s been a cinematography mentor for Re-Present Media and Chicken & Egg Pictures. Nausheen is based in NYC, Los Angeles and Karachi, Pakistan. She received her MFA in Cinematography from the American Film Institute Conservatory. When she’s not on set Nausheen can be found reading comics books or painting quotidian moments of life as a documentary cinematographer.