AGA Sidewalk Cinema

We are sibling filmmakers based in Calgary specializing in both live action and animated narrative shorts which explore a variety of genres and styles in digital filmmaking.

Growing up with the advent of web media along with cinema and television, our body of work is very much inspired by the visceral imagery that we see on screen. Whether it’s a visually stunning sequence from a film, or a YouTube video with phenomenal visual effects done on a shoestring budget, we have always been fascinated with the creation of visual stories and strived to capture its essence within our own work.

Our humble beginnings started initially as short videos posted online for fun. As we honed our craft, our work began to see exhibition in film festivals, member screenings, community events, and have garnered recognition in terms of award nominations and wins. We aspire to create films that are entertaining, provoking, and skews conventional expectations with our unique voice and sensibilities taking the helm.

The Garbage Boi is a short film very much inspired by the magic of Mary Poppins with an unexpected twist. Shot on the iconic Stephen Avenue in downtown Calgary during the spring of 2019, the film was made on a whim for funsies and to make sure we still remember how to make a decent movie. The Garbage Boi has since played in several festivals in Alberta and even picked up a ‘Best Comedy Short’ award at the 2019 Edmonton Short Film Festival.

WRITER. DIRECTOR. PRODUCER.

Nauzanin Knight is a Canadian woman of Barbadian and Middle Eastern descent. Her nuanced stories reflect the uniqueness of her heritage as well as her international life. She is Executive Producer of 1844 Studios, a film production company which is dedicated to drawing attention to pressing social issues and exposing striking stories which tell us about the universality of human emotion despite diversity of human experience.

Nauzanin completed her MSc in Countering Organized Crime and Terrorism at University College London (UCL), in the UK and published her non-fiction book State Terrorism in Iran: understanding the case of the Iranian Bahá’í Community, before directing her attention to film projects. She went on to write, direct and produce films like #SHADESOFWORTH, an exploration of self-worth and beauty in Black women (Toronto Black Film Festival, Edmonton International Film Festival, Halifax Black Film Festival); MY LYRIC I NEVER KNEW (CBC/Radio-Canada and Gem, American Indian Film Festival, Dreamspeakers Int’l Film Festival, NSI Film Festival, etc.); FROM THE GRASSROOTS, a documentary film about the activities of the Baha’i Community (curated Bahá’í.org); PRECARITY, a documentary about the lived experience of Temporary Foreign Workers in Alberta (TELUS Optik, On-Demand) and is in the process of directing and producing COLORBLIND, an inversive romantic comedy film centering on an interracial couple (funded by the Canada Council for the Arts). Nauzanin is a Women in the Director’s Chair (WIDC CAM 2020) and Whistler Film Festival Doc Lab (2019) alumna and is participating in The BANFF Spark Accelerator for Women in the Business of Media (2020).

An ardent believer in contributing to the vibrance of her community at the grassroots level, Nauzanin serves as a member of the diversity and inclusion committee of Women in Film and Television Alberta (WIFTA). She also facilitates the digital storytelling workshop series Empowering Black Girls (EBG) organized by Action for Healthy Communities.