Proof of Concept Selection
BROWN GIRL
In 2007, seventh grader, Sara, desperately wants to be part of the popular trio that rules her affluent Palos Verdes middle school. When her birthday wish goes awry and she wakes up white instead of Pakistani, Sara must decide if her newfound privilege is worth losing her true identity.
Biography
Mahnoor Euceph is a Pakistani-American writer and director. She has a BA from UCLA in Design | Media Arts, with a minor in Film, TV, and Digital Media, and an MFA from USC in Film and Television Production.
During her MFA, she worked as Art Director on AMERICAN EID, Disney’s first ever Muslim story. In 2022, she participated in the Islamic Scholarship Fund’s Muslim Centered Writers’ Lab, with support from Extracurricular and The Black List, for her feature film, QUEEN OF DIAMONDS. Her directorial debut, EID MUBARAK, won 15 awards, and played at 40+ festivals internationally. It was one of Variety's five picks for the Best Live Action Short Film Academy Award nomination, and went on to be longlisted for the 2024 Oscars as one of 187 films. In 2024, Mahnoor was selected for the Jenni Kroner Productions Shadow Directing and Production Initiative for the 20th Television/Onyx Collective comedy series DELI BOYS.
Mahnoor explores entertaining stories about the South Asian diaspora through the female gaze. Her work is injected with humor and features a hyper stylized sensibility informed by design and fine art. With her films, she seeks to decolonize minds by empowering audiences to engage in radical self-love.