Bassam Tariq is a Pakistani-American director, producer, and screenwriter of both independent and major studio films. The creative is a director at global media and communications company RadicalMedia and freelances in copywriting and advertising.
Filmmaker magazine named Tariq in their “25 New Faces of Independent Film” list in 2012. The New Yorker listed his documentary, These Birds Walk, as one of the top 50 foreign films of the 21st century.
Marvel Studios tapped Tariq to direct their remake of the superhero film Blade in summer 2021.
Bassam Tariq: Film director, TED fellow, entrepreneur
Tariq first discovered film as a way to earn money for college.
“I thought I’d go into business, or maybe become a doctor,” Tariq told TED Blog. “Then I took this class called ‘Creativity in American Culture,’ and that really shifted my perspective on what was possible…I learned how to edit from a friend, and then did corporate videos — like videos for the university mental health department, and so on.”
After college, Tariq pursued advertising and copywriting with New York companies like Saatchi & Saatchi and RAPP.
“As soon as I got to New York, I ended up meeting Muslims — and they were an amazing group of creative artists,” Tariq said.
With his newfound group, Tariq co-directed and produced his first feature-length documentary, the Sundance-funded film These Birds Walk (2013). The film follows a man who created Pakistan’s first ambulance and his impact on the lives of runaway children. These Birds Walk premiered at the 2013 South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival.
More passion projects from Bassam Tariq
In 2014, the director-producer co-founded Honest Chops, a halal butcher shop in Manhattan. Honest Chops opened with a dedication to selling high quality meats that are slaughtered according to Islamic tradition. The butcher shop sells organic meats, everything from lamb and beef to poultry, and uses the whole animal.
“Our bread-and-butter clients are the local East Village community, who are the kids of artists, hipsters, people who work in start-ups,” explained Tariq. “Then we have a young professional Muslim community…We also have a large local immigrant community — the Bengali families, the Chinese families, and so on.”
A TED fellow, Tariq hosted a TED Talk in 2015 titled “The beauty and diversity of Muslim life.” The talk presents 30 Mosques in 30 States, a social project Tariq undertook with his friend Aman Ali. Tariq and Ali visited 30 mosques in 30 states in 30 days during Ramadan to collect intimate stories from Muslims across America.
The short film Ghosts of Sugarland (2019) won the Short Film Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Netflix released the 21-minute film as an original. The documentary tells the story of a group of young Muslim-American men in Texas who suspect their disappeared friend to have joined ISIS.
Tariq directed and co-wrote British-Pakistani artist Riz Ahmed’s 2020 feature film Mogul Mowgli. The drama follows a British-Pakistani rapper whose career is threatened by an autoimmune disease.
Bassam Tariq grew up in New York and Texas
Tariq was born in Karachi, Pakistan in 1986. He moved to New York with his parents and older brother as a child. The film director’s father was a cook and a business owner. During Tariq’s childhood, the family owned a gas station and then a Chinese-Pakistani restaurant.
“After a short time in New York, where we lived in a very middle-class Astoria neighborhood, we moved to Houston — to the hood — when I was about 11,” Tariq recalled. “I realized that everything was divided by race. It felt really weird, because in New York, we all just got along and everyone was from a different background.”
“When I went to college, I got involved with student organizations,” he said. “The pivotal point for me was 9/11. I was forced to deal with Islam and what it meant to me — if anything. It’s such a cliché. But our politics and beliefs were put in the spotlight.”
The first in his family to go to college, Tariq earned his B.S. in Advertising in 2008 from the University of Texas at Austin.
Tariq lives with his wife and son in New York City, London, and Houston.
Marvel taps Bassam Tariq to direct Blade movie
Tariq’s first feature-length film, Riz Ahmed’s Mogul Mowgli, caught the eye of Marvel Studios when it debuted at various film festivals. The director-producer specifically notes that Mogul Mowgli prepared him for working with the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
“I learned so much on how to manage a set, work with actors,” Tariq told Variety. “[Ahmed] took the biggest risk, working with a first-time feature filmmaker.”
Marvel’s Blade will star American actor and rapper Mahershala Ali in the titular role as Eric Brooks. A vampire attacked the superhero’s mother during birth, both killing her and turning him into a (dhampir) half-vampire. So, Brooks spends his life avenging using his vampire abilities to avenge the death of his mother. With all of a vampire’s strengths and none of the weaknesses, Brooks earned the name “daywalker” from his nemeses.
Stacy Osei-Koffour, who wrote Watchmen, will write the screenplay.
Blade first debuted as a supporting character in Marvel Comics’ The Tomb of Dracula (1973). He soon appeared in his own series the following year. Finally, New Line Cinema released the original trilogy: Blade (1998), Blade II (2002), and Blade: Trinity (2004).
The release date for the film is still unknown, though fans speculate a release in the second half of 2023.
