Abid Aziz Merchant

Abid Aziz Merchant is a Pakistani film producer based in Karachi, Pakistan. After 21 years as a banker, he founded Sanat Initiative in 2014 with the vision of transforming the artistic landscape in Pakistan. Under the banner of Sanat, Abid ventured into film production in 2018 with his first feature film ‘I’ll Meet You There’ (SXSW 2020). He co-produced a feature in Kazakhstan titled ‘Madina’ (Tokyo International Film Festival 2023) and produced the recent ‘Wakhri’ (Red Sea International Film Festival 2023, SXSW 2024). He is an alumnus of prestigious programs such as Locarno Open Doors, Cannes Cinefondation, Venice Biennale College Cinema, Produire au Sud, and La Fabrique Cinema de l’Institut français. Abid has produced a number of short films notable among them being ‘1978’ (Locarno Film Festival 2020) and ‘Mulaqat’ (Venice Film Festival 2021, Sundance Film Festival 2022). Abid aims to create original and meaningful content that resonates with an audience hungry for engaging narratives.