IDIL IBRAHIM
is a director and writer working across film, television, documentary, and commercial production.
She directed a five-part making-of series for VICE Films on Fishing Without Nets, the Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner, shot on location in Kenya, and she directed In Her Element for the Queen Collective, a partnership between Tribeca Studios, Queen Latifah's Flavor Unit, and Procter & Gamble. The film premiered on BET during the 54th NAACP Image Awards weekend and won the Reel South Short Film Award at the Nashville Film Festival. Her short film SEGA, starring Alassane Sy, premiered in international competition at Clermont-Ferrand, won Best Short Film at BlackStar and the Golden Dhow at the Zanzibar International Film Festival, and was acquired by Canal Plus Cinema for distribution across Europe and Africa.
She co-wrote and served as consulting producer on Apple TV's Little America, which earned a Humanitas Prize nomination. She was selected for the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) Writers' Studio in 2023 and received the Chanel Women Writers' Network grant.
She has also produced commercial and branded content campaigns for Nike, Capital One, White Castle, and Cisco, working on location from Tokyo to Baton Rouge and the Louisiana Bayou to the Bay Area.
The stories she is drawn to center human rights, migration, diaspora, and the lives of people whose stories are rarely told with the complexity they deserve, and that focus is what drives her work.
Her films have screened at Sundance, Tribeca, the Toronto International Film Festival, the International Film Festival Rotterdam, Clermont-Ferrand, Cinéma du Réel, and BlackStar, among others. She has directed and produced across cultures, working with crews from Japan, Kenya, Somalia, Lebanon, Malawi, Morocco, the Netherlands, France, and across the United States, which is where she does her best work.
Her honors include the SF Film Rainin Grant, the 92nd Street Y Extraordinary Women Award, and a spot on the OkayAfrica 100 Women list.
She is based between Los Angeles and New York and is available for work internationally.
AWARDS
San Francisco Film Society (SF Film) Rainin Grant
Humanitas Prize Nomination, Apple TV's Little America
Chanel Women Writers' Network Grant, TIFF Writers' Studio
Best Short Film, BlackStar Film Festival (SEGA)
Golden Dhow Best Short Film, Zanzibar International Film Festival (SEGA)
Reel South Short Film Award, Nashville Film Festival (In Her Element)
Canal Plus Cinema Acquisition, European and African Distribution (SEGA)
92nd Street Y Extraordinary Women Award
OkayAfrica 100 Women
International Jury Member, United Nations IOM / PluralPlus