Creative Hello: Sahra Salon

By Hajer

Mar 8, 2022

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About

SOLD OUT 

Four emerging artists share their works in progress in a night of storytelling, intimacy and enchantment. Be part of their process and be transported to their worlds at this evening gathering or Sahra (Arabic). Share our intimate space of creativity and indulgence.

Sahra Salon is a showcase of artists of varied disciplines sharing their works in progress on a live audience. We invite you to be part of the artistic process of all our artists with plenty of food, drinks and laughs to be had at this Creative Hello event.

Artists: Hajer, Bina Bhattacharya,  Faith Chaza, May Yousif 

When: Tuesday 8 March
Arrival 6.30pm

Tickets:
Full Price: $15
Concession: $10
Limited seating

This event is sponsored by The Finishing School Collective as part of a Community Capacity Building Grant received through The City of Parramatta as well as Powerhouse Youth Theatre. The Finishing School Collective would also like to acknowledge the ongoing support of The Parramatta Artists’ Studios and the support of Riverside’s National Theatre of Parramatta for this event.

 

Artists

Hajer

Hajer is an Iraqi-Australian writer, actress and founder of the Iraqi Diaspora Creatives Network. From prose to essays to plays, Hajer’s work explores the experiences of womanhood, messy friendships and everyone’s favourite topic… dysfunctional families.

Her writing has been featured in Refinery29 Aus, Sydney Writers Festival, Emerging Writers

Festival and Queerstories. She was a writer and actress on ABC’s ‘Halal Gurls’. She also has a blog on Medium where she shares film/tv reviews and social commentary. She has been featured on panels for Boundless Festival, Mudgee Readers Festival and Microflix Film Festival.

Hajer is a member of the Finishing School Collective.

Bina Bhattacharya

Bina Bhattacharya is an AWGIE-nominated feature film writer and award-winning filmmaker from Campbelltown in Sydney’s southwest. Bina is a writer for the anthology feature film “Here Out West” about the intersecting lives of migrant communities in Western Sydney, which was one of four films nominated for the 2021 Cinefest Oz $100,000 Australian film prize and the Opening Night Film at the Sydney Film Festival 2021. She directed the music video for Punjabi-Australian pop singer Parvyn Singh’s single “What You See”, which went on to be featured in Rolling Stone India. In 2018 Bina was selected as a Director for Australia’s first ever Diversity Showcase and as a member of the Australian Directors’ Guild’s Official Delegation to the Screen Producers Australia conference in Melbourne. Her 2017 short film ‘Wild Dances’ has proven to be an international festival hit and audience favourite in screenings around the world. Through her production company, Gemme de La Femme Pictures, Bina launched her “Showpiece Shorts” series, a collection of films workshopped and co-produced with actors of diverse backgrounds who usually face limited role choices. Bina is currently being mentored by Australian auteur Rolf de Heer and has completed a script for her first feature film, “From All Sides”.

Bina also works as a Producer – Emerging Artists at PYT Fairfield, Western Sydney’s leading professional theatre company where she curates a professional development program for their Ensemble. Bina has also worked as a lead artist at Campbelltown Arts Centre’s Festival of Fisher’s Ghost program, using technology to facilitate an interactive storytelling “Choose Your Own Adventure” for 5-12 year-olds.

Faith Chaza

Faith Chaza is a reluctant being.

Having grown up in Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa, Faith now finds themselves in Sydney – learning how to be a real person.

Faith’s works span music, stage productions and prose.

Some of their written work can be found in Itch, Aerodome, and The Ghost Eater and Other Stories collection. They wrote for and directed Bodies – a stage production which premiered at Sydney Writers’ Festival in 2018 and most recently served as the music director for the Sounds/Words Block Party in 2021.

May Yousif 

May grew up in Western Sydney, after migrating to Australia in 1994 from war-torn Iraq. Despite the financial struggles her family faced, she was adamant that these struggles would not defy her. Specifically, her passion for film and TV which was ignited when her parents gifted her a second-hand video camera from a local garage sale.  Since then, May has worked on many Australian productions including SONY’S Peter Rabbit 2, CHANNEL 9’s Doctor Doctor, WHITEFALKS’ AACTA award winning film Babyteeth, ABC’s Rake, ABC’s Hardball and more. Most recently, May worked on George Miller’s ‘Three thousand years of longing’ assisting the film’s leading man Idris Elba. A creative partnership was formed and May co-directed Idris Elba’s music video for ‘Biggest’ due to release in 2022.
In 2018, May was selected as part of SBS’s Diversity Talent Escalator program where she worked alongside Shannon Murphy on TV Drama ‘On The Ropes’.Her producing and directorial debut was ‘Friendzoned Island’ – a comedy short film which earned her the award for ‘Best Feel-Good Film’ and a ‘Best Romantic Comedy’ nomination at Sydney Indie Film Festival in 2019.

After completing the ‘Writing for Television’ course at AFTRS, May wrote, directed and co-produced ‘The Audition Bus’, a 30-minute comedy TV pilot helmed by an all-female creative team. May’s writing garnered the attention of LOTL – a popular Magazine aimed at inspiring women in the LGBTQ community. May hopes to provide a voice for underrepresented groups by creating and developing her own original film & TV concepts.

May’s desire to share meaningful and diverse stories, passion for writing and film-making, continues to develop with each project she undertakes.

 

Creative Hello

Riverside’s National Theatre of Parramatta have launched Creative Helloa collaborative networking initiative for western Sydney creatives from any artformThe sessions provide opportunities to connect with other professional creatives from experienced to emerging.

You never know who you might meet. Join us and connect with the NTofP team and other Western Sydney creatives.