Ian Iqbal Rashid (born 1971 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania) is a Canadian/British Ismaili Muslim poet of Indian descent, screenwriter and filmmaker. He was raised primarily in Toronto, Ontario, and has lived primarily in London as an adult.
Rashid published his first book of poetry, "Black Markets, White Boyfriends and Other Acts of Elision", in 1991, and was nominated for the Gerald Lampert Award. He subsequently published two further books of poetry, "Song of Sabu" in 1994 and "The Heat Yesterday" in 1995.
In Britain, Rashid has been a writer for the television series "London Bridge" and "This Life", and wrote and directed his first feature film, "Touch of Pink", in 2004, which won several festival awards internationally. His second feature film, "How She Move", was released in early 2008 to rave reviews and at number 12 at the North American box office. Both "Touch of Pink" and "How She Move" premiered at the Sundance Film Festival (2004 and 2007 respectively) where they were subject to heated bidding wars from American studios. They were bought by Sony Picture Classics and Paramount Vantage, respectively.
He currently is based in London with his partner of 16 years,[cite web |title=Think Pink: Kyle MacLachlan plays a ghostly but gorgeous Cary Grant in Ian Iqbal Rashid's screwball debut, Touch of Pink |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1589/is_2004_July_20/ai_n6149528 |last=Ferber |first=Lawrence |work=The Advocate |date=2004-07-20 |accessdate=2007-04-01] Peter Ride.]External links
*Ian Iqbal Rashid was born in Tanzania, East Africa in 1971. His family were forced to leave their home when he was very young. After seeking asylum in the UK and US, where they were rejected, his family resettled in Canada where they were finally accepted. Ian migrated again, in the early 90’s, to London where he lives today.
Ian has written and directed two award winning short films, Surviving Sabu (1999, Arts Council of England) and Stag (2001, BBC Films). He wrote the feature film, Touch of Pink, which after 12 years in development with various agencies he finally got the opportunity to direct as a Canada-UK co-production in 2003. The film premiered at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival to great acclaim [http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/awards_festivals/cannes/reviews/article_display.jsp?JSESSIONID=chpLHnvPm2qncyLgLsLvR25xZg0tRWxT7GKRNTdC4CSsJdypyyzN!33393216&&rid=2061] , a bidding war, and eventually, a sale to Sony Picture Classics. A similar Sundance Film Festival reception was met by How She Move, a feature film set in the world of step dancing, which Ian directed in 2006/7. The film was purchased by Paramount Vantage at the Sundance Festival and was released early in 2008, to great reviews [http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/01/25/movies/25move.html?ex=1232859600&en=c57881682579a0ef&ei=5083&partner=Rotten%20Tomatoes] [http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/cinema/2008/02/04/080204crci_cinema_denby] [http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?node=cityguide/profile&id=1140260&categories=Movies&nm=1#editorialReview] and good box office: another indie success story to emerge from Sundance.
Self-taught as a film-maker [http://www.indiewire.com/people/2007/01/park_city_07_in_11.html] , Ian began his career in the late 90’s, working as a writer in UK television. His credits include the soap, London Bridge (Carlton Television for ITV) and the cult hit BBC2 series This Life for which he received the Writer’s Guild of England award.
He is also the author of 3 award-winning books of poetry, the most recent of which is The Heat Yesterday.
He and his work have been awarded many awards and festival prizes including the Aga Khan Award for Excellence in the Arts.
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