About Ashtar Al Khirsan

A graduate of the National Film and Television School I began my career making a series of one-off documentaries for the BBC which led to me making single films for the Arena arts strand on BBC2. My documentaries have received strong critical praise in the national press and have been screened at various international film festivals.

My short fiction film, Abdullah and Leilah (2023 festival award winner) was funded by the Wellcome Trust and has screened internationally with film and tv rights acquired by distributor MAD Solutions.  My most recent short fiction film, Shawafa, was made under the Directors UK/ARRI Alexa short film scheme.

​