Saleem Reshamwala

Explorer, Filmmaker, Global soul, Journalist, Muslim, Parent, World traveler

Saleem Reshamwala is a Japanese-Indian-American journalist and filmmaker whose recent work has focused on culture, ethnicity and music. Recent awards include an Emmy-nomination for his work on implicit bias and race while at the New York Times and Best Music Video at the Hip Hop Film Festival in Harlem (for G Yamazawa’s “North Cack”). Outside of film, he is the host of TED’s “Far Flung,” an audio travel show about ideas. Saleem has also created work for The Guardian, POV and the PBS Digital Studios series “Beat Making Lab,” for which he filmed rappers and beatmakers in Senegal, Ethiopia, Fiji, Panama and the Democratic Republic of Congo. He has studied, worked or hung out in over 50 countries.

Building tiny creative scenes in local communites, creative process, filmmaking, international hip hop, stop-motion animation, magic realism.

Microfestivals! Big festivals are expensive, so I often wonder: what's the smallest most useful unit that could hold some of those elements of a festival, and how could it be turned into a cross-genre event in your city? Tiny, hyperlocal, creative events that stretch across genres and help local creatives survive. Been thinking a lot about how to make more tiny, festival-like events that can be pulled off in a way that puts cash into creatives' hands.

documenting international hip hop, Filmmaking, music videos, podcasting, travel

Host of TED's "Far Flung", a travel podcast on international ideas. Attended Monterrey last year, excited to be in Vancouver for the first time!