Special Slamdance Coverage: Aisha Amin

Watch This Episode On YouTube

I couldn't have loved CONTOURS (2025) more, Aisha Amin's film which screened at Slamdance, and that bled through into the conversation. The story is brilliantly written, wonderfully acted, and gorgeously shot, so it's no surprise Aisha is such a fascinating guest for the podcast.

She comes to filmmaking from the perspective of a Pakistani-American filmmaker and it is clear she will continue to push boundaries of what's possible in independent filmmaking.

In this episode, we talk about:

• how you decide to put a twist into a short film;
• how she got involved in filmmaking (and she made me feel better about asking a similar question every time) -- hat tip to the Straight 8 competition;
• her thoughts on film v. digital and why more people aren't funding short films;
• how CONTOURS, a deeply rich film about a couple fighting, came to be;
• what the process is like directing something you haven't written -- "you have to be really collaborative";
• how she feels about diversity initiatives, especially in this political climate;
• why Slamdance for her film;
• how she responds to questions about her first feature;
• the challenge of being pigeonholed as a young director;
• what's next for her -- she drops info about her first feature!
• the problems with screeners only viewable on laptops and publicists utilizing Zoom for their press days with filmmakers.

Aisha's Indie Film Highlight: FOUL EVIL DEEDS (2024) dir. by Richard Hunter; NO OTHER LAND (2024) dir. by Rachel Szor; Yuval Abraham; Basel Adra; Hamdan Ballal; Pastel Productions

Links:

Follow Contours On Instagram

Follow Aisha Amin On Instagram

Follow Aisha Amin On Vimeo