Karimah Zakia Issa is an emerging director and passionate storyteller based in London, UK, and Toronto. Her most recent project, LANES ‘20 (for the City of Toronto) is an educational, narrative dance piece that explores responsibility and participation in present-day social justice movements. In development is ‘Scaring Women At Night’, a short film adapted from Ace Clamber’s short story of the same title – exploring how our perceived gender informs our interactions in the world and the implications of those socializations following his medical transition. During the lockdown, she has also directed, shot, and edited ‘Interlude-19’, a visual album for STORRY.

Her identity as a queer, black woman is inherently woven into everything she does, but make no mistake – it’s far from all that defines her. Her jam is crafting stories that dive into themes of overcoming social expectations, how self-worth is built and broken and the dark truths that live within us all. Karimah has independently produced and co-produced short films including Q&A (Kingston Canadian FF ‘19, CBC’s Short Film Face Off Finalist) and Kitty’s Naughty Knickers (DGC Best Short Film Nomination ‘19, Holly Shorts FF ‘19, Miami FF ‘20). 

After completing her Bachelor of Commerce and Carleton University and Certificate of Film Studies at Ryerson University she spent three years at Lithium Studios, an independent feature film production company. Most recently, she worked as the Canadian Film Centre’s inhouse Production Manager, bringing 30+ short films to life.