Rise Up 2024: Pass the Mic Presents – Pitching Underrepresented Community Stories

Are you a storyteller from an underrepresented community looking to bring your unique voice to the film and television industry? Join us for an empowering workshop, “Pitching Underrepresented Community Stories” where Raisah Ahmed will explore the importance of sharing our authentic narratives and navigating the industry as newer voices.

Rise Up

Rise Up! Festival is a celebration of some of the many diverse voices and visions that shape Aberdeen and Scotland’s Black and PoC creative communities. Join us at the Music Hall and Lemon Tree for three days of art, music, and dialogue that challenge, inspire, and unite. Curated by We Are Here Scotland in partnership with Aberdeen Performing Arts.

See the whole programme here.

Raisah Ahmed is a Screenwriter and Director who works across film and television.She has been working with Producer Zorana Piggott and Film4 on a feature project called Half-Moon Camp which looks at the journey of Indian Muslim Soldiers in WW1 as well as develo ping Safar a cross generational female road trip film with Zorana. Other credits include directing on CBBC’s Sparks, Princess Mirror-Belle and Molly & Mack, BBC3’s The Break and writing on BBC The Social’s phone drama Control, CBBC’s Molly & Mack and the recently announced WB Discovery animated series ’Toad and Friends’. She has been part of the writers room for Season 1 and 2 of Ch4 Series ‘We Are Lady Parts’ and often consults on tv and film projects with a focus on Muslim and South Asian characters. She is currently developing the adaptation of Martin Sixsmith’s ‘Ayesha’s Gift’ for television with Freedom Scripted, on which she’s also an EP. She is also developing ’Nur’ a 6 part original romcom for television with Channel X Hopscotch.

As well as writing and directing, Raisah also sits on the BAFTA Scotland Committee, the board of the Scottish Youth Film Foundation and Bijli Productions, and chairs the Glasgow Film Festival Industry Advisory Group.