Kashif Pasta is a Canadian-born, Los Angeles-based director, writer and producer focused on telling BIPOC stories with a sense of joy, wonder, and social purpose.
A finalist for the Pillars Fund x Riz Ahmed inaugural Muslim Artist Fellowship, Kashif's brand of grounded, heartfelt storytelling has resonated with audiences worldwide. He served as director and showrunner of the hit TELUS episodic series "Welcome to Surrey", a South Asian-led comedy that earned over a million viewers and a number of best webseries awards around the world.
His most recent short, Desi Standard Time Travel, is picking up awards at film festivals across North America right now (click for upcoming screenings), and his debut feature, "Like Brothers" is set to go to camera in 2024.
On television, Kashif has written in rooms for Paul Feig’s Powderkeg, WarnerMedia, and CTV/Bell Media. He was an ABC Television Comedy Lab fellow for his pilot "Long Distance", and is currently developing a comedy-mystery series with Omnifilm.
As a producer, Kashif's work has spanned commercials, narrative, and music videos, the latest of which - "Meet You at the Light" - won the Grand Jury and Audience Awards at SXSW 2022.
Kashif is the co-founder of Dunya Media, a production company that empowers artists of color to tell stories with purpose. Dunya is one of Canada's leading BIPOC-owned production companies, producing national commercials, award-winning short films and live events like the Peabody award-winning HOMECOMING KING with Hasan Minhaj.
Outside of film and television, Kashif can be found traveling the world obsessing over architecture, food anthropology, and live comedy with his very patient family.
SHORTER BIO for festivals & panels:
Kashif Pasta is an award-winning director, writer, and producer using film and storytelling to tell character-driven genre stories centered on South Asian and Muslims with a sense of joy and wonder.
He has written in comedy development rooms for WarnerMedia, Bell, Telus, and Paul Feig's POWDERKEG, and as part of the ABC Comedy Lab, as well as serving as co-showrunner and director for the TELUS comedy series WELCOME TO SURREY.
Kashif's most recent directorial work, the South Asian Muslim sci-fi drama short DESI STANDARD TIME TRAVEL, is currently playing at festivals with a feature adaptation in development at Telefilm Canada, with support from the NSI BIPOC Access Producer's Program 2023.
He is the co-founder of Dunya Media, a production company that empowers filmmakers of color to tell stories with joy, wonder, and purpose, where he recently won the 2022 SXSW Grand Jury Prize and Audience Awards - Music Video for producing.
SELECTED PRESS
CBC: Filmmaker wants to BIPOC creators to engage in conversations beyond representation
CBC: Filmmaker wants to BIPOC creators to engage in conversations beyond representation
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