Today we’d like to introduce you to Neha Aziz
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I first came to Austin as a transfer student in 2009 to attend UT. I studied journalism and minored in film wanting be a film critic and/or cultural reporter. After graduation, I was interning at The Austin Chronicle, doing some freelance work, and working part-time in retail to make ends meet. I was doing that for about three and a half years. During that time I thought about grad school in both journalism and film, but I couldn’t find a way to make that work realistically. However, I ran a degree audit and I only needed about 2-4 classes to complete my Radio-Television-Film degree from UT Austin. It was in 2014 that I got my first real taste of screenwriting, producing, and film production. I was at a place where I wanted to stop writing about other people’s work and start creating my own. I went back to school for 3 semesters, and at that point was working in retail basically full time and continuing to freelance. Once I got my RTF degree, I was being very particular about jobs I was applying for, and in February of 2017, I got hired at SXSW to work in communications and worked there until March of 2020.
Like many I got laid off, due to the pandemic, and also like many, I really thought about my worth and how I wanted to spend my time. The years 2020 to 2022 were filled with exploration and personal growth. I began to rewrite scripts I hadn’t looked at for long periods of time and worked on new ideas. Additionally, during this time I also created and launched a podcast with the iHeartRadio Network. PARTITION is a ten episode limited series that dealt with the partition of India and the formation of Pakistan. I also began working at the Austin Asian American Film Festival (AAAFF) and Cleveland International Film Festival as a film programmer. Fast Forward to 2025, and I am now the Artistic Director at Austin Asian American Film Festival, still program for CIFF and now have added Big Sky Documentary Film Festival to the list. I completed my first short film in 2023, which is still on the film festival circuit and developing some other creative projects.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It’s been a roller coaster for sure! I started out wanting to pursue one thing and had interests in filmmaking and other facets of storytelling. I had a lot of different paths and passions which could be very draining sometimes. It takes a lot of perseverance and the right amount of luck and timing to make a creative career work. Sustainability is still something I constantly worry about and struggle with.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I like creating real and raw stories about everyday life and sharing stories that people may not know about or may not necessarily seek out. I’m developing two shorts at the moment, one is a narrative about online dating and the other is a documentary focusing on one of the most prominent borders between India and Pakistan.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
I think not returning to a 9 to 5 or office job after my lay off. I decided that I only wanted to spend my time doing work I cared about and wanted to invest in. It’s really nice and rewarding to get to pick what projects I want to work on, but at the same time I’m always thinking where my next paycheck will come from. What if I can’t find something to replace the income of a role that I just wrapped up? It’s a catch 22 of being a privilege, and dealing with the realities of that privilege. But the fact of the matter is, the rug can be pulled out from underneath us at any given moment.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/nehaaziz
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nehaaziz/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neha-aziz-64452098/
Image Credits
Film set photos by Matt Stryker
AAAFF Group Photo by Jeremy Teel
Headphones – Self
Blue Sunshine q and a by Kelly Zhu
Partition cover art created by Hafsa Khan
VC Film Fest courtesy of VC Film Festival
