The actual voice of Kashmir
Shabrang Films is an independent film and creative production studio in Srinagar, founded by filmmaker Mir Afnaan Nissar.
We make films in the language and texture of the Valley, from 100-second micro-shorts to narrative films, and we support productions that come to Kashmir to tell their stories.
The work starts inside the community: local casts, local crews, local truths. Every film is made to travel, to festivals, screens and audiences anywhere.
Alongside the films, the studio runs a masterclass, an international co-production lab and an on-set apprenticeship for new Kashmiri filmmakers.
What we believe
Six principles
- Authentic voice
- Kashmiri stories told by Kashmiris, in their own language, from inside the Valley rather than about it.
- Human truth
- The moral contradictions of everyday life matter more than spectacle. We film people as they are.
- Craft
- Shot breakdowns, disciplined sets and precise form. Ambition is measured in preparation.
- Our own terms
- Kashmir shown on its own terms, never reduced to the stereotypes outside cinema has imposed.
- Grow from within
- Local crews, low-waste sets and training on every production, so the industry grows here.
- Made to travel
- Conceived in Srinagar, crafted to travel. Regional specificity is what makes a film universal.
Founder
Mir Afnaan Nissar
Director · Screenwriter · Producer · Srinagar
Mir Afnaan Nissar is a director, screenwriter and producer based in Srinagar, and the founder of Shabrang Films. His work moves between the compressed precision of the 100-second micro-short and longer narrative films rooted in Kashmiri language and life.
He directed Haqq and Zahar, both made through the studio's 2026 International Co-Production Lab with the 100 Second International Film Festival of Iran, and conceived Zaayi, an environmental parable set on the Jhelum. He is now directing and producing Majboori, a Kashmiri-language short in production in Srinagar. Javaid Gora, Qadam and Rah Bakshtam are in development.
He also built the studio's training programmes: the free Shabrang Filmmaking Masterclass in 2025, the International Co-Production Lab in 2026, and the Creative Apprenticeship in Srinagar. Outside film, he is building Kashmiri AI, a dataset for the Kashmiri language.
His films work through contradiction: the devotee who saves water and pollutes a river, the mourners who console and steal, the worshipper walking to prayer in stolen slippers. They observe, dramatise and reveal, then trust the audience with what they've seen.
First Runner-Up, 2025 TUM ChangeMaker Awards
Workshops & labs
Each edition opens the studio's process to new filmmakers in Srinagar.
International Co-Production Lab
Held in Srinagar with the 100 Second International Film Festival of Iran. Working to a strict 100-second runtime, the lab produced more than five micro-shorts, including Haqq and Zahar.
2025Shabrang Filmmaking Masterclass
The studio's first public workshop: three free days in Srinagar on direction, lensing, shot breakdowns and screenwriting, open to anyone.
OngoingCreative Apprenticeship
Apprentices train inside Shabrang productions in screenwriting, assistant directing, cinematography, sound and line production.