Pillars Frames Fellowship Names Its New 2026-2027 Cohort

Pillars Fund and Riz Ahmed's Left Handed Films are excited to announce the 10 rising filmmakers in their newest Pillars Frames Fellows cohort (formerly named Pillars Artist Fellowship). The Frames Fellowship , dedicated to supporting courageous culture creators, backs directors and screenwriters who work alongside Muslim communities with unrestricted funding and long-term industry mentorship. Netflix and Amazon MGM Studios have generously supported the fellowship since its first cohort in 2022.

The 2026-2027 fellows, who are based in the US and UK, have won and been nominated for awards from BAFTA to Venice International Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival to the Emmys®. Their work carries age-old wisdom and hums with the heartbeat of today, mixing mediums and media, blurring fantasy and reality, and blending comedy with anguish, longing with liberation.

Over 10 months, each fellow receives a $40,000 unrestricted grant, one-on-one mentorship and workshops led by entertainment industry experts. Fellows build community and learn from each other at three in-person retreats throughout the year in New York City, London and Los Angeles and have access to an advisory committee of award-winning Muslim actors, directors, producers and writers.

"This singular cohort makes us laugh, cry, and inspires hope with their unflinching points of view on cinema," said Arij Mikati, Pillars' Vice President of Programs . "Their work both spans and expands genre while bridging Ramallah with Atlanta and London with Los Angeles and New York City. They continue to prove that Muslim stories are abundant and can be found everywhere. Too often, what is missing is access and investment. That's where Frames steps in. Unrestricted funding and industry relationships let these artists make the work they want to make, the way they want to make it, with their own voices and on their own terms. It is our greatest honor to support them as they create outside the bounds of the world's expectations."

"This new cohort of fellows embodies the future of storytelling. Each filmmaker brings a fearless vision, a singular voice, and a rigorous craft to their work and we're so excited to support them on their next stage of the journey through the industry and draw new audiences to their films," said Allie Moore, Senior Vice President at Left Handed Films . "We're honored to stand alongside the Pillars Fund, whose gift for recognizing and shepherding talent early has made it a vital force in fostering artists' careers."

The 2026-2027 Pillars Frames Fellows are:

• YASMIN AFIFI is a British-Egyptian director/writer, whose film Jellyfish and Lobster won the 2024 BAFTA Award for Best British Short. A graduate of the UK's National Film and Television School, Yasmin uses the medium of dark comedy, magical realism and absurdism to explore taboo and dark subject matters.

• SINDHA AGHA is a director and writer whose first documentary, Birth Control Your Own Adventure , drew 20 million views and whose comedy anthology, How to Be a Person , won a BAFTA. Sindha wrote and co-produced the Emmy-nominated Netflix series The Principles of Pleasure, and has received fellowships from AFI and Sundance.

• FYZAL BOULIFA is a British writer-director working between the UK and Morocco whose features include "Lynn + Lucy" and "The Damned Don't Cry." His films blend melodrama and social-realist influences and are known for their use of non-professional actors, earning a BAFTA-nomination and awards at the Cannes Film Festival.

• AMAR CHEBIB grew up skateboarding in the Persian Gulf, where he began making videos. His work blurs fiction and nonfiction to tell intimate human stories within larger social and political realities. His short hybrid documentary, "Joe Buffalo," about an Indigenous skateboarding legend and survivor of Canada's notorious Indian Residential School system, was executive produced by Tony Hawk and won 16 international awards.

• LAITH ELZUBAIDI is a British-Iraqi screenwriter, playwright and community organizer based in London whose Tony Craze Award-winning play Insane Asylum Seekers became the fastest-selling show in the history of the Bush Theatre Studio. He is now developing a TV adaptation of the show and produces the hit online show Food I Can't Read , which has racked up over 50 million total views since launching in 2025. Laith is also the founder of the British-Arab Writers Group, a collective of over 250 Arab writers based in the UK.

• DURAN JONES is a rapper-turned-filmmaker and AFI Conservatory graduate who builds a film slate under his BLK MCG Content banner and is a Sundance Feature Film Producers Lab Fellow. His latest short, Time is Money , premiered at the 2025 RiverRun Film Festival and won the Best Director award at the 2025 Diversity in Cannes Showcase.

• MORGAN MATHEWS is an award-winning Atlanta-based writer and director who makes films about people navigating the systems, families, and dreams that both shape and constrain them. His narrative short Half-Day earned a jury award at SFFILM and a Best Short nomination at BlackStar Film Festival, while his short documentary Clara's Fruit , about the legacy of Sister Clara Muhammad, premiered at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture and was distributed on PBS.

• IMRAN PERRETTA is a London-based visual artist, writer, director and composer whose sound and moving-image work has been exhibited at institutions around the world. He co-wrote, directed, and scored his debut feature, Ish , which was commissioned by the BBC and the BFI and won the Audience Award at the 2025 Venice Critics' Week.

• HUDA RAZZAK is an Atlanta-based animation filmmaker and daughter of Iraqi immigrants whose short The Ocean Duck won the Jury Award at the 2022 New York International Children's Film Festival and was long-listed for the Oscars®. She has created content for Sesame Street, worked on Netflix Animation's The Twits , and completed a Sundance & Disney Artist Fellowship for her animated feature Home of the Birds .

• SAID ZAGHA is a Palestinian-British screenwriter and director, born in Jerusalem and raised in Ramallah, whose work fuses genre storytelling with a political edge. He directed the first two episodes of the Netflix Original limited series Crashing Eid , an Arabic language series released in 2023. His short film, Coyotes, premiered at Venice and has won numerous festival prizes including the Best Short Film Award at the BFI London Film Festival.

Pillars, Riz Ahmed and his Left Handed Films established the Pillars Frames Fellowship in 2021 to empower artists to tell stories that reflect the full richness and complexity of Muslim experiences - stories that expand the possibilities of who and what is seen on screen. Alumni of the first two Frames cohorts are already working in the rooms where culture gets decided. Their films and series have premiered at Sundance and SXSW, including Amber Fares's Sundance jury award and Oscar shortlist and Imran J. Khan's SXSW audience award for Mustache, and have been sold to or developed with Netflix, PBS, A24, Amazon Studios, Watermelon Pictures and the BFI. They have also earned BAFTA and Emmy recognition, among them Myriam Raja's BAFTA Award for Top Boy and the seven Emmy nominations and one win for Paradise , on which Nadra Widatalla worked.

About the Fellowship

Launched in 2021, the Pillars Frames Fellowship supports screenwriters and directors by providing mentorship, industry connections, and financial support to advance their creative careers and expand authentic representation in film and television.

Each selected fellow will receive:

• $40,000 unrestricted award

• One-on-one mentorship with leading industry professionals

• Professional development workshops on navigating the film and TV business

• Exclusive networking opportunities with production companies and studios

• Multi-day creative retreats in New York, London, and Los Angeles

The Pillars Frames Fellowship Advisory Committee includes: Riz Ahmed, Bisha Ali, Mahershala Ali, Sana Amanat, Karim Amer, Mo Amer, Rosa Attab, Jessica Beshir, May Calamawy, Yann Mounier Demange, Mohamed Diab, Sarah Goher, Sahar Jahani, Zainab Johnson, Lena Khan, Nida Manzoor, Hasan Minhaj, Fawzia Mirza, Nijla Mu'min, Amina Munir, Jehane Noujaim, Aida Osman, Saagar Shaikh, Bassam Tariq, and Ramy Youssef.

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ABOUT PILLARS FUND

Pillars Fund harnesses the power of culture to amplify the vibrancy of Muslim life. Pillars believes that culture is power and creativity is the catalyst for change. Since 2016, Pillars has supported dynamic cultural producers, gathered communities, and advanced ideas that spark public imagination. Through its initiatives, Pillars seeks to expand cultural narratives to build a richer world for everyone. Learn more at pillarsfund.org .

ABOUT LEFT HANDED FILMS

Left Handed Films is the production company founded by Academy Award-winning actor, writer, and producer Riz Ahmed, dedicated to stretching culture by telling fresh stories in bold and innovative ways. In January 2021, the company announced a first-look television deal with Amazon Studios and appointed former AMC executive Allie Moore to oversee production and development..

Most recently, Left Handed produced the critically acclaimed Amazon Prime Video series BAIT, created, co-showrun, written, executive produced by, and starring Ahmed. The bold, genre-bending dramedy debuted to widespread acclaim, earning a 94% Critics Score on Rotten Tomatoes and becoming one of the best-reviewed series of the year. Blending dark comedy, psychological thriller, and cultural satire, the series follows an aspiring actor whose pursuit of success spirals into a surreal exploration of identity, ambition, and belonging. Celebrated for its distinctive visual style, sharp storytelling, and culturally rich soundtrack, BAIT further solidifies Left Handed Films' reputation for pushing creative boundaries and bringing underrepresented perspectives to mainstream audiences. For his performance, Ahmed garnered an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series.

The company's momentum continued with HAMLET, a bold, contemporary reimagining of Shakespeare's classic, starring Ahmed in the titular role. Directed by Aneil Karia and produced by Ahmed under the Left Handed Films banner, the film transports the timeless story of revenge, family, and corruption to modern-day London. HAMLET garnered significant attention on the international festival circuit, screening at the prestigious Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), and BFI London Film Festival, further establishing the company's commitment to ambitious, culturally resonant filmmaking.

Left Handed Films' acclaimed body of work also includes THE LONG GOODBYE, which won the 2022 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film; Jonas Poher Rasmussen's FLEE, which made history as the first film to receive Oscar nominations for Best Animated Feature, Best Documentary Feature, and Best International Feature in the same year; and MOGUL MOWGLI, directed by Bassam Tariq, which won the FIPRESCI International Critics' Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival, earned a BAFTA nomination for Outstanding British Film, and received six British Independent Film Award nominations, winning Best Debut Screenwriter for Ahmed and Best Music.

Through its growing slate of critically acclaimed and culturally impactful work, Left Handed Films remains committed to championing original voices, challenging conventions, and creating stories that resonate with audiences around the world.