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Shehzad Afzal

Shehzad Afzal is a writer/director/producer and Game Designer born in Dundee, Scotland.Notable for producing and directing Bo Kata, a documentary film which received a limited UK theatrical release in 2007.In 2005 and 2007, he was a finalist in the Global Digital Cities Game Design Competition.His first film, shot in 2004, a short four minute piece called The Full 10 Yards, received critical acclaim upon its release.Film influences include John Cassavetes, Sidney Lumet, Jim Jarmusch and Mike Leigh. Shehzad focuses on actor performance and realisation within a neo-noir/social realist/expressionist dimension.A graduate of Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen and Abertay University, Dundee in Computing and also Creative Writing, holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Management (presented to him by Dundee Utd footballing legend Paul Sturrock) from Dundee College, and is also a graduate of Screen Academy Scotland part of Edinburgh Napier University and Edinburgh College of Art (ECA), Edinburgh, with a Master of Arts in Screen Project Development with Distinction. University awards include the University Class Medal and 1st prize in 2009 for his Master of Arts in Screen Project Development. In 2010, he received a PG CERT in Interactive Entertainment from a design course at Edinburgh Napier University.At Screen Academy Scotland, Shehzad produced two award winning short films, including a first collaboration on a film project between screen academies in the UK (Screen Academy Scotland & Screen Academy Wales). Afzal won the Abbey Santander award for Outstanding Achievement in Film and Creative Media in 2009.Shehzad participated in the Media funded ENGAGE programme in 2010, a talent development initiative which takes a select few emerging filmmakers from across Europe through a nine-month process of masterclasses.,Nominee for the Satyajit Ray Film Foundation Award for Best Film Award 2007 in association with the British Council and the British Film Institute for documentary film, Bo Kata.Presented by Sir Sean Connery, the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2009 & Skillset Trailblazer Award which celebrated emerging talent in British Cinema.Debut feature film shot in 2010, Pendulum Drift, is in post-production and due for film festival release in 2015.