Khurram Sheikh

Biography

My research explores the intersections of Migration and Cinema within postcolonial studies, diaspora cinema, and film festival studies. I focus on postcolonial artists and filmmakers through an institutional lens, particularly film festivals and collectives, to examine contemporary film practices. My work investigates how migrant experiences through films are shaped by identity, nationhood, regionalization, and transnational movements.

For my MA thesis, The Local at a Global Scale: The Role of the Film Talents Workshop in Shaping Emerging Film Cultures of Pakistan, I studied Pakistani filmmakers who participated in the Goethe Institut’s Film Talents workshop. My research analyzed how the workshop funded local film productions and trained filmmakers for international film festivals. Building on this, my PhD research examines such transnational industry models that produce and circulate films by diasporic filmmakers, exploring how these practices contribute to identity discourse in global cinema.

Teaching 

Research Assistant (RA), CDRP
Center for Documentary Research and Practice, IUB, Fall 2024 – Spring 2025

Instructor of Record (IOR), Film Festivals
The Media School, IUB, Fall 2023

Associate Instructor (AI), Story Lab 1
The Media School, IUB, Fall 2022

Associate Instructor (AI), Introduction to Media Studies
The Media School, IUB, Spring 2020 to Spring 2022

Associate Instructor (AI), Introduction to Production Techniques
The Media School, IUB, Fall 2019

Instructor Performing Arts Workshop
United States Education Foundation in Pakistan (Lahore, PK), 2015 (AI)

Professional Experience

Co-Director
In Light Human Rights Documentary Film Festival, May 2024

Co-Curator
People of IU Online Exhibits, May 2021

Director and Screenwriter
Film Talents: A Filmmaking Workshop by Goethe Institute (Karachi, PK) 2017-2018

Project Development Workshop
Open Doors Locarno Film Festival (Karachi, PK) 2018

Director/Performer
Orchestral Readings Theatrical Performances (PK) 2015-2017