Shahla Islam is a young filmmaker and activist from Bangladesh who has directed four short films portraying stories related to children and contemporary issues. Currently, she is working as Assistant Director at Chabial, a leading production house in Bangladesh for Independent Cinema and TV Commercials. She is also the project lead of a film accelerator program funded by the US Department of State. 

 

Shahla’s 1st short film Tuktuk's Specs has received 1st prize from 3rd International Children's Film Festival Bangladesh 2010 and 2nd film “Shopnojatra” was nominated for UNICEF Meena Media Award in 2011. Since then she has been involved with filmmaking and youth leadership programs. In 2012, she has participated SUSI at the University of Oklahoma with a scholarship from the US Department of State to study New Media in Journalism which has, later on, inspired her to co-found youth-led organization "Dream On" to empower youth on film and media sectors. Shahla was a student at the Undergraduate level at the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh when she co-founded it in 2014 and has successfully organized the first Media Summit in Bangladesh.

 

After completing Masters in Film from the University of Kent, Shahla has initially joined in academia. At the end of 2017, she left the job of Lecturer at Central Women's University to assist in a feature film “Saturday Afternoon”, 1st chapter of an identity trilogy by  M. S. Farooki. In 2019, she has assisted on the 2nd chapter of the trilogy "No Land's Man".

 

In her leisure time, she enjoys watching films, volunteering for environmental campaigns and spending time with friends and family.