Nelofer Pazira

Biography: Nelofer Pazira is an Afghan-Canadian filmmaker, actress, journalist, and author, born in 1973 in Hyderabad, India. She was raised in Kabul, Afghanistan, and lived through a decade of Soviet occupation before fleeing to Pakistan in 1989 and immigrating to Canada in 1990. She studied journalism and English literature at Carleton University and earned a master’s degree in anthropology, sociology, and religion from Concordia University. In 2001, she starred in the film “Kandahar,” based on her real-life attempt to find a childhood friend. She later co-directed “Return to Kandahar” and authored the memoir “A Bed of Red Flowers.”