Team 2025 - Rung Film Fest

Rung Film Festival Team 2025

2025 Grand Jury

Senain Kheshgi

A Peabody-award winning filmmaker, Senain is a director and producer of several films,
including the three-time Emmy-nominated feature documentary "The Diplomat (ESPN),
and the award-winning "Project Kashmir" (PBS/Independent Lens). She created, wrote
and directed the comedic PBS docuweb series "Divas of Karachi" and directed virtual
reality films with award-winning production company, Here Be Dragons (formerly Vrse)
for Facebook, Johnson & Johnson, Save the Children, and The Annenberg Center for
Photography. She most recently served as Executive Producer on "A Broken House" a
short documentary directed by Jimmy Goldblum that was shortlisted for an Academy
Award and the Amazon Prime Series, "Future Forward" a series of 6 short films about
climate change, directed by Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning directors.

Jamshed Mahmood Raza popularly known as Jami, is a film director from Karachi Pakistan. He studied
film at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena in the United States. In 1998 returned to his home,
Karachi and formed the production company Azadfilm. Music director Jami’s directorial debut “Pal do
Pal” changed the landscape for music videos in Pakistan. Since then he has done numerous award
winning, critically acclaimed videos for pop bands and singers including Strings, Atif Aslam, Ali Zafar,
Fusion – Shafqat Amanat Ali, Ali Azmat and Hadiqa Kiyani.

Jamshed Mahmood Raza

Mohammed (Mo) Ali Naqvi

Mohammed (Mo) Ali Naqvi is a Pakistani filmmaker based in New York. He is known for
documentaries which shed light on the socio political conditions of Pakistan, and feature strong
characters on personal journeys of self-discovery. Notable films include Insha’Allah
Democracy (2017), Among the Believers (2015), Shame (2007), and Terror’s Children (2003)

Moderators & Panlellists (2025)

Coming soon

Programming Coordinator (2025)

Zehra Nawab, a Pakistani-Canadian director and actor for film, is currently a fellow at the Genre Film Lab, Canada, developing her debut feature film. She directs the documentary “Niswan Nama,” produced by two-time Oscar recipient Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (SOC) Films. Notable for her women-centered storytelling, Zehra co-directed the Canada Council Grant-funded short film “Farzana.” Her direction work extends to documentaries like “Mad Mad Mad Mad Film World,” part of the permanent collection at Contemporary Art Gallery in Vancouver and “Home Truths,” showcased at the Venice Biennale, earning her the National AGAHI Award for Journalism in Culture. Her acting debut was in Pakistani film “Khel Khel Mein” (2022), followed by lead roles in the Canadian short film “Spin Over” and the theater play “Transit” at Toronto Fringe in 2023.

Zehra Nawab

Director / Actress

Pre Selection Committee (2025)

Asad Kirmani

Writer / Director

ASAD KIRMANI is a Writer/Director and a practicing psychiatrist in Austin, TX. While in medical school he produced and directed a film, “All the Wrong Reasons,” a full-length comedy feature about a hapless young medical student. While doing his psychiatric residency in New York City he produced and directed “Curing Gender,” a documentary about the history of psychiatry and transsexuality that has been used educationally by a number of hospitals and institutions across the country. He has written and directed three short films, “Stress Freud,” “Pornistan,” and “Hijabi.”

Tanya Hoshi is a Canadian filmmaker based in Toronto, who has built a portfolio of award- winning films, webseries, and advertisements. For the past 10 years, Tanya has focused her career path towards strategic storytelling, landing her coveted roles as the first Head of Brand Marketing at Ownr – an RBCx Venture, and Lead Producer at Shopify. Tanya’s commercial productions have been viewed globally by millions of aspiring entrepreneurs, broadcast on NBC, and won a Telly Award. Determined to pursue creativity outside of the corporate world, Tanya has additionally produced her own independent projects via her production company Hoshi Media Inc. In 2023, Tanya produced her first feature film We Will Be Brave via Telefilm Canada’s Talent to Watch Program, which won the Audience Choice Feature Film Award at Reel Asian International Film Festival and was acquired by CBC. Tanya made her directorial debut with the web series Blackout which won Best Horror Series at WebFest Berlin. Tanya also produced the documentary Turning Tables, which was acquired by CNN’s Great Big Story and featured in school curriculums across Canada. Tanya is currently developing her second feature documentary, which is generously financed by CBC for development.

Tanya Hoshi

Storyteller / Producer

Faisal Rasheed

Director / Producer

A seasoned director/producer based out of Pakistan with over two decades of experience with a wealth of producing TV commercials, music videos, documentaries, films, short films, and TV content. Faisal has built a reputable production company Shoot At Sight Productions based in Karachi and the UAE. He’s known for his creative mindset, collaborative approach, and exceptional execution skills. His work has earned me several prestigious awards and a great repo in the industry on both local and international stages.

Social Media Coordinator

Bhavesh Chauhan is an independent filmmaker and artist based in Vancouver, Canada. With a career spanning nearly 15 years, he began his journey from humble beginnings creating short films, skits, and music videos with friends in high school. Some of his recent productions include the feature films “I, Migrant,” “You’re Mine,” and “Emergence: Out of Shadows”; the web series “Wedlocked & Loaded”; and the short films “Bedard,” “Solidarity Lives,” and “Mom vs. Machine.”