Return to Sender in NYC

Friends, just got back from Pakistan where I screened ‘Return to Sender’ in multiple community settings – the film is now coming to NYC and we’re mixing it up!!!

2 films + 2 filmmakers + 1 Michelin star chef on 2 evenings in March (21st & 22nd)

Join us for provocative short films, chai, and a discussion between Aashish Kumar and I, hosted by @chefsurbhi at @tagmonyc, a radical food space in Seaport, NYC!

Learn about decolonial feminisms and queer South Asian activists while savoring samosas and Bombay sandwiches. It’s not something we get to do every day 🙂

Ticket info (limited seating) here

Frames & Subversions: Queer & Feminist Storytelling from South Asia: Enjoy movies and convos with filmmakers along with chai and bites at TAGMO’s first film series! Filmmakers Mara Ahmed and Aashish Kumar grew up in Pakistan and India, countries shaped by British colonialism. In their films they cross multiple borders – between nation states, the colonizer and colonized, and across identity boundaries. Hosted by chef Surbhi Sahni, owner of TAGMO and an advocate for queer and feminist voices, the series will start at 7pm sharp.

Seating is limited so pls buy your tickets in advance

Date & Time: March 21 and 22
Doors open at 6:30 PM, screening + discussion from 7PM (sharp) – 9PM

Location: TAGMO NYC, 226 Front Street, New York, NY 10038

Tickets: $36 per person

Capacity: 35

Tickets include: Chai, samosas, and Bombay sandwiches

Sangria available for purchase (cash only)

Screening of A Thin Wall in Bangalore

A Thin Wall is coming to Bangalore! Bangalore Film Society in collaboration with the Indian Institute of World Culture is organizing a three day film festival from February 11 to 13, 2025 from 11am to 5pm at the Indian Institute of World Culture Auditorium, in Bangalore. The festival is non-commercial and non-ticketed, themed around celebrating pluralism, primarily aimed at inviting films that beautifully illustrate how diverse cultural, ethnic, mainstream, and indigenous identities come together to create a more inclusive and harmonious/cohesive society.




Return to Sender is coming to Islamabad

I am thrilled to announce that my film, Return to Sender, will be screened in Islamabad as part of the Margalla Film Festival on Feb 16th! It’s always an honor to present my work in Pakistan and engage with people in the Global Majority. I will give a short artist talk and we will have a convo afterwards of course. I went to high school in Islamabad so it’s an important part of my life and journey. The venue for the film festival and my screening is the Black Hole, a wonderful space that invites discussions on art, culture, science, and politics. They have already shown A Thin Wall, my film about the partition of India, so I look forward to working with them again. Thank you Osama Malik for being such a brilliant organizer and for supporting my work. Friends, if you are in Islamabad, pls join us – this event is free and open to the public!

Return to Sender at Unity Gallery

So happy that the art exhibition ‘Return to Sender: Women of Color in Colonial Postcards & the Politics of Representation’ is opening on Monday (tomorrow) at Unity Gallery, Dept of Neurology, University of Rochester! It’s curated by the brilliant Shawn Dunwoody

‘An art exhibition by artist Mara Ahmed, inspired by her film of the same name, features photographs and digital collages that offer deeper historical context and expand on the themes explored in both the film and the exhibition.’

There will be an Artist Reception on April 2, 2025, 1:00pm – 3:00pm
Exhibit runs January 27 – April 19, 2025
Gallery Hours: M-F 11-4
For more info: theunitygallery.com

a knock on the roof

saw this amazing one-woman play off broadway last night. written and performed by khawla ibraheem, a playwright, actor and director from majdal shams, in the occupied golan heights, the play tells the story of a woman and her family trying to survive a war. although written in 2017 about another war in gaza (there have been countless), resonance with the present genocide charges the play with so much more meaning and emotion. the story starts with everyday life, which continues even as bombings form a kind of unhinged backdrop, but builds up to something obsessive and paranoid. how to plan an escape after the first “knock on the roof,” when smaller bombs are dropped on one’s building to indicate upcoming annihilation. one has 5-15 minutes to assemble loved ones, pick up the bare necessities, rush down the stairs (no electricity), and sprint as far away from the building as possible. 5-15 minutes. madness. what does one pack, how does one wake up a drowsy child and aging mother and ready them for escape, how fast and far can one run while holding on to the most precious possessions of one’s life? as mariam dedicates every passing hour to practicing and mastering the perfect escape, we see snippets of her childhood, her marriage to omar who is finishing his master’s degree abroad, her childhood dreams, and adult frustrations. the play becomes darker as tension builds to a crescendo and mariam begins to disintegrate. the end takes one’s breath away. there were audible reactions in the audience – people wept as the lights came back on. a stunning physical and emotional feat. at new york theatre workshop until february 16, 2025.

Return to Sender at the Arts + Change Conference

This is happening on Thursday (7pm) this week! Watch ‘Return to Sender: Women of Color in Colonial Postcards & the Politics of Representation’ for free, on Zoom, at the Arts + Change Conference

I will give a thought-provoking intro to the film and we will also have a post-screening discussion. All you need to do is to register for the session.

It’s cold outside but we can have a vibrant community event online. Hope to see you then!

my review: conclave

so about the film ‘conclave,’ which is generating oscar buzz. i was excited to see it when it came out because of the cast – ralph fiennes, isabella rossellini, stanley tucci, john lithgow – all actors i like. the setting of the film is interesting. most of the action happens during a conclave – an assembly of cardinals who self-segregate until they’ve appointed a new pope. remember the smoke rising from the sistine chapel, signaling that the next pope has been elected? that selection comes out of a conclave.

as i’m watching the film, i’m thinking to myself how wonderful it is to see this thriller with these masterful actors set in a completely different context, constructed with meticulous replicas of the vatican and full of elaborate costumes and rituals. v catholic of course.

towards the end of the film, there is an explosion in the midst of the conclave. there’s a hole in the building where the voting is taking place, with debris and pulverized dust everywhere. the camera begins to shoot at an angle, ralph fiennes is hurt, we feel disoriented.

my first thought is: it’s a dream. fiennes is under stress so he’s imagining the end of days. no such luck. this is actually happening. we soon find out that this is a terrorist attack – a suicide bombing to be more exact – which triggers a disgusting islamophobic rant from one of the cardinals: “we can never work with muslims, they are animals.”

at this point i say to myself: “this can’t be. they will probably reveal that the attack was the work of some christian sect or extremist group. they’ll flip it.” nope. the bombing is immediately assumed to be a muslim thing and that gut reaction is proven to be right.

now i’m thinking: “there will be strong pushback, this cannot be allowed to pass.” in fact, there is some pushback by one of the cardinals, but it’s not political. it’s simply meaningless generalities about not hating anyone (even suicide bombers).

for a film about catholics, taking place in the vatican, where the central theme is the election of a pope, this bit of last minute anti-muslim racism is so arbitrary. or is it? in the midst of a live streamed genocide of mostly muslim people, with propaganda deployed to invert reality and turn the killers into victims, perhaps every film that comes out has to fulfill a certain quota of islamophobia, even if it’s a side story randomly added at the end. my husband and i paid $20 per person to see this bs at a movie theater. it’s hard to tell what’s what when we are picking films. there are racist traps embedded in every bit of western culture.

The Injured Body coming in November

As many of my friends know, I’ve been working for a while now on ‘The Injured Body,’ a feature length documentary about racism in America inspired by Claudia Rankine’s book of poems called ‘Citizen: An American Lyric.’

Well, I’m back on the project and already have a date for the film’s premiere – November 14th at Cinema Arts Center in Huntington, NY!

For years, friends and colleagues have urged me to contact Claudia Rankine and tell her about the film. It made sense. Yet I kept procrastinating.

I am not impressed by celebrities, politicians or rich dudes, but I’ve always been starstruck by Ms. Rankine. The beauty and brilliance of her mind, the simplicity and precision of her language, the ease and lyricism with which she captures the subtleties in our day to day interactions with each other, are all extraordinary.

Now that I have a deadline and am pressed for time, I found Ms. Rankine’s email (her assistant’s to be exact) and asked if I could use some of her words as text in the film. My work is interdisciplinary and so it crosses many boundaries between art, literature, politics, and philosophical writing. ‘Citizen’ is at the heart of this film. I didn’t overthink and just sent the email along with a link to the trailer.

Today I got an email from her assistant telling me how wonderful the film sounds and saying, “Of course, Claudia is willing to have her words used in this way.” No fees. No need to contact the publisher. Just “quoted with the permission of the author.”

Are you kidding me? Is this for real? I’m so excited for this project!

[Photograph of Ayni Ali by Arleen Thaler]

ceasefire in gaza

there is a ceasefire. so relieved, but also completely overcome by the magnitude of what people have had to endure. displacement, homelessness, starvation, death, torture, genocide. so much loss and pain, such surreal horrors. kudos to the resistance. may the people of palestine rebuild their homes, their dreams, their lives. the struggle continues

artwork via @flyers_for_falastin

Going to Lahore

Going to Lahore for three weeks in February, but one needs a lifetime to explore its rich history and culture. It was the capital of the Mughal Empire under Akbar and later, like Paris, became home to some of South Asia’s best known writers and intellectuals. They would congregate at Pak Tea House, the birthplace of the Progressive Writers’ Association and its left wing politics. Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Ibn-e-Insha, Ahmed Faraz, Saadat Hasan Manto, Sahir Ludhianvi, Amrita Pritam, Munshi Premchand, Krishan Chander, Ismat Chughtai, Muneer Niazi, Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi, Habib Jalib, Kaifi Azmi, Intezar Hussain, Rajinder Singh Bedi, Ustad Amanat Ali Khan and many more. What would it have been like to live in Lahore in those days.

Watched a beautiful video of NCA by @maliknaveedpgotography:

Different Views of National College of Arts in Lahore

The institute was originally founded in 1876 as the Mayo School of Industrial Arts and was one of the two arts colleges established by the British in British India. It was named in honor of the British Viceroy Lord Mayo. Kipling became the school’s first principal and was also appointed as the first curator of the Lahore Museum which opened the same year in an adjacent building. In 1958, the school was renamed the National College of Arts and Mian Barkat Ali was appointed principal. [The brilliant NYC-based artist Shahzia Sikander is from NCA]

RMSC’s interactive map

Excited that Rochester Museum & Science Center has created a map documenting their historic exhibition, Changemakers: Rochester Women Who Changed the World (in which I had the honor of being featured). This interactive map is now available as a digital interactive at RMSC on the second floor, Patricia Hale Gallery, but you can also access it online.

My location pin is near Liberty Pole by East Street, between Chestnut and Main, because of the Highfalls Film Festival. Thank you Farhana Islam for making me aware of this wonderful map <3

trip to ohio

drove to kent, ohio, this weekend to be with family and celebrate the life of our khalajaani, dureshehwar aziz khan. what a blessing to spend time with my cousins and their families including wonderful nieces and nephews. what a privilege to drive there with my brother and nephew (6 hours for them, 8 hours for me) and experience such precious moments together. on to the next generation – may they find support and kinship in one another. got back to long island just in time this morning, it’s snowing now.

new year’s eve 2024

as we step into 2025 (an arbitrary threshold with just one meaning at this moment – the shattering reality that a holocaust has been enabled and supported for more than a year in full view of the world), i feel unsettled. the cognitive dissonance that many of us have experienced since october 2023 (or since forever) seems heavy. on the one hand, i am thankful for my family and friends and the fact that we live in relative security, on the other, i am intensely aware of the suicidal gluttony, violence and vulgarity that underpin all systems promising safety in exchange for genocide. the brutal murder of robert brooks in a graphic video that’s impossible to watch, reminds me of the bodies being starved, exploded, pulverized, and piled into mass graves in gaza. i want to write something about the racial dynamics of it. the word ‘dehumanization’ is so overused, it’s lost all meaning. what is truly happening when the black or brown body is savagely penetrated, its skin broken, its borders breached? the mind boggles at the viciousness embedded in white supremacist colonial ideologies, and the widespread silence, convoluted justifications, and hardcore denial they entail. i have no faith in any of these systems – capitalism, the nation state, settler colonial logics, imperial bs, or international ‘rules’ and pompous political rhetoric. the only thing that makes sense is community, resistance, and indigenous/ palestinian ways of living in concert with the land and its inhabitants, with respect and generosity. may 2025 be a year of peace and connection. may 2025 be the year we celebrate palestinian freedom.

A space of our own on Long Island

As we approach the end of 2024, a big shout-out to @pyaari_azaadi and her brilliant Hicksville-based project (supported by a fellowship from @huntingtonarts) which hopes to bring South Asian feminist creatives together on Long Island. It’s a powerful idea about solidarity, kinship, art, politics, language, and intent. Honored to be on this journey together – look forward to collabs and lots of fun. Here we are in Pyaari’s enchanted sunroom earlier in December <3