My name is Zahir Rashed, and I’m a screenwriter and filmmaker hailing from Afghanistan, currently living in San Francisco. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been curious about the world around me and interested in people and their experiences. I have always been an observer of life, and my passion has been to share stories through visuals and words.

When I was younger, I would say to my friends, “If I take a pen and write about the first person I see on the street in any city of Afghanistan, or if I take a camera and walk on any street in any part of Afghanistan, I will be able to make a compelling story worth telling, sharing and showing.” I believed in that imagination and still do. Eventually, I started working with a media organization as an editor and content manager for a publication called Afghanistan Today Magazine, which is published Afghanistan-wide.

While writing for Afghanistan Today, I discovered that I was right; there are stories worth telling, but to be able to write those stories professionally, I needed professional training, and that’s how I ended up in the US, studying the art of screenwriting and storytelling. And so, I started my career as a creative scriptwriter ever since.