Umar Riaz is a Student Academy Award nominated filmmaker and photographer, born and raised in Lahore, Pakistan and currently based in New York City and Lahore. In 2009 he graduated with a degree in English Literature and Cinema Studies from New York University’s College of Arts and Science. He then graduated from the Graduate Film Program at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts where he was awarded an Ang Lee Scholarship for ‘exceptionally talented graduate film students.’ His award winning films have screened at film festivals internationally including at the 65th Locarno Film Festival, the 20th Raindance Film Festival, the Woodstock Film Festival, Cinequest, HBO and BET’s Urbanworld Film Festival amongst several others. He was Artistic Consultant for director Terrence Malick on ‘Knight of Cups’ (2016) and as well as an Additional Editor for Mr Malick’s  film ‘Song to Song’ (2017).