Episode 218: Shakil Jessa

Filmmaker Shakil Jessa is determined to make the kind of films he needed to see when he was a queer Muslim teenager. This determination is particularly evident in Imran and Alykhan, a short film about two boys who fall in love at a Muslim youth retreat but have to keep their relationship a secret from those around them; the film will premiere on May 7 at Crazy8s. Shakil recently wrapped his first development deal with WarnerMedia for a story about a queer Muslim teenager going to university for the first time. He was the youngest member to have joined the WarnerMedia Access x Canadian Academy Writers' Program, and he’s currently working on a new limited series about a South Asian teen from Toronto who leads a crime ring that robs $11 million from the world's biggest influencers.In this boisterous episode of the YVR Screen Scene Podcast, Shakil talks about his experiences bringing queer Muslim stories to the screen, moving into spaces in the industry that don’t have long histories of platforming queer BIPOC filmmakers, and why diversity and representation matter to young people in particular. Episode sponsored by Fish Flight Entertainment