Abdullah Shahid

some film here some acting there // @pomonacollege '19 @nyutischschool grad film // letterboxd: abdullahshahid

[Abdullah Shahid @chadullah]

aw hell yeah dude this sounds absolutely bonkers

[Film Updates @FilmUpdates]

The cast of Park Chan-wook’s upcoming film ‘THE BRIGANDS OF RATTLECREEK’

• Pedro Pascal
• Matthew McConaughey
• Austin Butler
• Tang Wei

Described as a western thriller that follows a sheriff and a doctor who seek revenge against a group of bandits.

[Abdullah Shahid @chadullah]

Help her out too, coming from a single parent household, things are infinitely harder and she along w everyone else deserves the same access to education. Send it out to anyone you know who'd be willing to donate!

[Abdullah Shahid @chadullah]

Help out Arisha achieve her dreams of studying at Columbia! Incredibly difficult to get into these programs, there's no funding no scholarships for Pakistani students, and we're not eligible for loans or most grants. There is literally no money in Pakistan
https://t.co/dcByMVFaxk

[Abdullah Shahid @chadullah]

The constant barriers to entry are exhausting and demoralizing.

I was in the same position 3 years ago and it's been a struggle since then every semester to keep it going but the donations I got from people abroad are the only thing that helped me pay for my first year of NYU.

[ALUTHEDON @Mbakaza4L]

i beg you all. while it's important to talk about Palestine and Iran, please don't ignore what's happening in SUDAN. SUDAN barely has any media coverage, we need to talk about it more

[Abdullah Shahid @chadullah]

@HadiaAhFa Hm?

[Abdullah Shahid @chadullah]

haha

[🥝 High on lassi 🥝 @Hanhanwomen]

zainab fatima on GoFundMe¿¿

[Abdullah Shahid @chadullah]

Everything that happens to Kumail Nanjiani should be happening to me instead.

[Film Updates @FilmUpdates]

The cast of ‘THE WHITE LOTUS’ season 4:

• Alexander Ludwig
• AJ Michalka
• Helena Bonham Carter
• Vincent Cassel
• Steve Coogan
• Sandra Bernhard
• Dylan Ennis
• Caleb Jonte Edwards
• Nadia Tereszkiewicz
• Chris Messina
• Chloe Bennett
• Max Greenfield
• Ari Graynor
• Charlie Hall
• Kumail Nanjiani
• Corentin Fila
• Marissa Long
• Jarrad Paul

[VANITY FAIR @VanityFair]

Kevin O'Leary and Jafar Panahi share the carpet at the 2026 #Oscars

See every arrival: https://t.co/KuFTTzHpXQ

[Zak @zakfilm]

Hello Academy. Can you address why you have said nothing about The Voice of Hind Rajab lead actor Motaz Malhees who isn’t allowed to enter the US to attend the Oscars because of the travel ban for Palestinians. You nominated his film yet he can’t even attend to celebrate it. A statement would be appreciated.

[Ammar Rashid @AmmarRashidT]

CDA has sent demolition notices to multiple katchi abadis in Islamabad (including allama iqbal & rimsha colony) home to 1000s of working class Christian families, ordering them to vacate in 1-2 days.

This is despite a recent hearing in the FCC where previous stay orders against summary demolitions were maintained. These are unlawful actions in violation of SC/FCC orders & a humanitarian catastrophe in the making, amid a worsening inflationary crisis in the country.

We need an urgent intervention to prevent 1000s of families being made homeless overnight. All this can be avoided with some careful planning in accordance with existing resettlement policies. Hope reason & basic humanity will prevail.

[Ayesha Shahid @ayesharshahid]

A decade after this case was first brought to the court, Islamabad has failed to develop a katchi abadi policy and the city is now seeing some of the most cruel demolitions in its history. This must stop now.

[Ayesha Shahid @ayesharshahid]

Abdullah's very first short(ish) films are now available! I really like how he takes slice of life ideas and brings them to life. Watch, enjoy, send me your hot takes.

PS: my goal in life is to persuade him to make the kind of movies I want to see. #SisterPrivileges

[Abdullah Shahid @chadullah]

this shit was insane

[Every Movie Plug @everymovieplug]

Some of the greatest camera work and action ever captured on screen.

[Abdullah Shahid @chadullah]

Watch them and three other amazing films here!

https://t.co/P8dk2oDRSU

[Abdullah Shahid @chadullah]

Hey guys, two of my films are streaming now on Begin in Pakistan:

First one is Catfish (35 min!), comedy! drama! thriller!
And the second one is Hot Soup (my 1st-year NYU film, 8 min <3), romance! drama! arranged marriage date!

Watch on Begin + trailer: https://t.co/D8ZIcySgrC

[Abdullah Shahid @chadullah]

Hot Soup was the film I made at the end of my first year in my NYU Grad program. I was trying to do something very simple, cheap and effective and really enjoyed working on a very small scale with just two actors in one location for a short and sweet 8 minute thing. Some stills:

[Avatar 3: Fire and Ash @avatar3news]

>be me, James Cameron, 19 years old in the swinging '60s

>stuck in boring Canadian high school, but brain's a volcano of sci-fi fever dreams

>one night, bam - vivid nightmare/vision of a bioluminescent forest teeming with flying lizards and ethereal creatures, glowing like God's own rave party

>wake up sweating, grab pencil and paper, sketch the shit out of it: towering trees linked like neural networks, blue-skinned aliens with cat-like grace, the works

>stash the drawings in a drawer, thinking "someday this will be epic," but life's a grind - drop out of college, drive trucks for cash while doodling more alien worlds on napkins

>fast forward to '70s, still a nobody, pour heart into short films like Xenogenesis: bioluminescent planets, sentient trees, crippled heroes mind-linking with aliens - sound familiar?

>scrape together $20k from dentist investors (lol), make a demo reel that lands me gigs in Hollywood, but the big dream simmers on the back burner

>'80s hit, direct Aliens and The Abyss - dive deep into underwater lore, invent new tech for liquid metal effects, but Pandora's still whispering in my ear

>early '90s, after Terminator 2 blows minds with CGI T-1000, think "tech's almost there for my blue cat people"

>1994-95, write an 80-page "scriptment" for Project 880 (Avatar's code name): paraplegic marine jacked into alien body, corporate greed vs. indigenous harmony, floating mountains, the full eco-allegory mashup of Pocahontas and Dances with Wolves in space

>but CGI sucks ass—looks like PS1 graphics, uncanny valley hell—shelve it, do Titanic instead, which overruns to $200M+ and nearly bankrupts Fox, but wins Oscars and prints money

>2000s roll in, tech evolves: Gollum in LOTR, King Kong's mocap—time to resurrect the beast

>2005, pitch Fox on Avatar, they're scarred from Titanic PTSD, say "prove it won't suck our wallets dry"

>they cough up $10M (about $15M today) for a proof-of-concept reel—build custom mocap rigs, early Na'vi designs with creepy long necks and V-backs, shoot a 3-4 min forest sequence with biolum glow and tense Na'vi-human stare-down

>it's rough, like high-end video game cutscene, but shows photoreal potential—Fox execs watch, jaws drop, but still hesitate

>October 2006, rights briefly lapse, shop it to Disney—Fox panics, exercises first refusal, greenlights with $237M budget (real talk: closer to $280-310M with overruns, plus $150M marketing, total gamble ~$500M)

>challenges stack like Hallelujah Mountains: invent Fusion 3D cameras from scratch, simulcam for real-time CGI directing, massive 10k sq ft server farm chewing 17GB per CGI minute

>hire linguists for Na'vi language, actors train in Hawaiian jungles for authenticity, enforce vegan set cuz eco-vibes—traffic light outside producer's office stays yellow for months ("we're fucked" mode)

>studio freaks over costs, Cameron defers fees, pours own millions back in, brings in UK financiers to split risk—nearly bails to indie route

>plagiarism lawsuits hit: artists claim he stole ideas—Cameron pulls out teen sketches and '70s scripts in court, wins big, proves it's his soul-child from day one

>2007-09 production hell: Weta Digital's 900 artists slave away, reshoots galore, Cameron bets career—"if this flops, I'm done"

>offer Matt Damon 10% profits for lead—bro turns it down, misses $250M+ payday when Avatar drops Dec 2009 and shatters records: $2.9B gross, redefines 3D cinema, spawns MCU-level VFX revolution

>but wait, sequels? Cameron plans four more from jump, writes 'em all at once—improbable af, delays for tech upgrades (underwater mocap for Way of Water)

>2010s: build Lightstorm empire, dive to Mariana Trench for inspo, fight endless delays from script polishes and pandemics

>Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) drops after 13 years—$350M+ budget, critics sneer "blue people again?" but hauls $2.3B, proves franchise immortal