Irshad Ashraf is a British

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

maker with a reputation for making stylish, visually innovative documentary films about history, art and politics. After studying film theory in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in the mid 1990s, Irshad moved to

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

to teach English while finding time to make short films and take photographs. The BBC film network quotes Irshad as saying "My first film happened when I moved to Tokyo for a couple of years in 1997 to teach English. The insidious traingrind of Ridley Scott's grey drizzled dystopia encroached deep inside my head, nag nag nagging away. I realised the power of dreams and, using a friend's camcorder and VCR for editing, made a film about the sensory avalanche that is Tokyo." Influenced by the work of Terence Malick and Alan Resnais, Irshad's films offset journalistic content with esoteric visual language as reflected in the ITV documentary '' The Muslim Jesus'' narrated by Melvyn Bragg which scored eerie images of urban London landscapes with haunting Arabic recitation, and was positively reviewed by critics in the '' Daily Express'', ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

'', ''

The Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after bei ...

'', ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its pare ...

'' and ''

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''. He states his greatest influence is fellow documentary maker Bob Brear, a man Irshad describes as "visually visionary, literally brimming over with ideas and joy". He sees the seminal ITV show Bouncers as Brear's greatest work. A series many described as "surreal to the point of genius". Irshad's work with Melvyn Bragg has included directing ''

The South Bank Show ''The South Bank Show'' is a British television arts magazine series originally produced by London Weekend Television and broadcast on ITV between 1978 and 2010. A new version of the series began 27 May 2012 on Sky Arts. Conceived, written, ...

''. His film about

Peter Kosminsky Peter Kosminsky (born 21 April 1956) is a British writer, director and producer. He has directed Hollywood movies such as ''White Oleander'' and television films like '' Warriors'', ''The Government Inspector'', '' The Promise'', ''Wolf Hall'' a ...

was described by Richard Rogers in ''

'' as "an examination of the art rather than the artist and that again makes it unique." Rogers also praised the opening of the film in the article "There is also no other TV show that Melvyn Bragg (or anyone else) can confidently open by asserting the philosophical theories of

Jean Baudrillard Jean Baudrillard ( , , ; 27 July 1929 – 6 March 2007) was a French sociologist, philosopher and poet with interest in cultural studies. He is best known for his analyses of media, contemporary culture, and technological communication, as ...

. He doesn't even link such theorising to the evening's subject. You have to work it out yourself, which means thinking while you watch" Ashraf's next ''

South Bank Show ''The South Bank Show'' is a British television arts magazine series originally produced by London Weekend Television and broadcast on ITV between 1978 and 2010. A new version of the series began 27 May 2012 on Sky Arts. Conceived, written, ...

'' was about the rock band

Elbow The elbow is the region between the arm and the forearm that surrounds the elbow joint. The elbow includes prominent landmarks such as the olecranon, the cubital fossa (also called the chelidon, or the elbow pit), and the lateral and the me ...

which aired in November 2009 and was awarded critic's choice features by ''

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'', ''

'' and ''

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''. Irshad's past work includes a BBC documentary about Pakistan's entertainment industry, a documentary about rock band Elbow's tour of

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

in 2004, a Channel 4 documentary about American film director Richard Linklater with presenter Ben Lewis, of which Henrietta Roussoulis of '' Time Out'' wrote: "his moments with the man himself are really worth watching. By constantly questioning his questions and doubting his doubts, Lewis attempts to add a Linklater touch to his documentary, a device that gets him nowhere - "I know it's your job to make sense of what I do," the director says, "but ... I don't think it's that interesting" Irshad also made a film about collectors of

contemporary art Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic co ...

in New York, with Ben Lewis which was positively reviewed by Peter Chapman in ''The Independent''. Irshad has also featured in front of camera in documentaries. The 2008 BBC 2 film ''The Funny Thing About Ramadan'' saw Irshad easing comedian Ayesha Hazarika into the month of Ramadan to comic effect. Irshad cut his directing teeth in the late 1990s making short films for BBC and ITV. He pioneered the "psychic detective" style of

Derek Acorah Derek Francis Johnson (27 January 1950 – 4 January 2020), known professionally as Derek Acorah, was a British spiritual medium. He was best known for his television work on ''Most Haunted'', broadcast on Living TV (2002–2010). His career ...

, making over 25 shorts with the psychic before going on to make shorts for the BBC flagship travel show ''Holiday''. As a producer he has made ''

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

for Beginners'' for Channel 4 and developed ''The Islamic History of Europe'' for the BBC.

Selected credits

The South Bank Show Elbow
Profile of the cult alternative rock band.
The Muslim Jesus
ITV The lives of Jesus and Mary as narrated in The Quran
Karachi Uncovered
BBC Scottish Actor Atta Yaqub investigates Pakistan's media boom
St. Richard of Austin
- CHANNEL 4 Film about American Film Director,
Richard Linklater
UK Channel 4

- Channel 4 Film about New York Art Collectors. U
Channel 4Director's Debut: Stephen Tompkinson's Story
BBC The British TV star directs a BBC drama

- Film about the British rock ban
Elbow
touring

.
Desi DNA
- Arts and

Culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups ...

Series
BBCAn Islamic History of Europe
with

Rageh Omaar Rageh Omaar (; so, Raage Oomaar; ar, راجح أومار; born 19 July 1967) is a Somali-born British journalist and writer. He was a BBC world affairs correspondent, where he made his name reporting from Iraq. In September 2006, he moved to ...

, feature-length documentary fo
BBC 4How to Dump Your Mates
CHANNEL 4 Teenagers improve their social circle with the aid of a top psychologist

- ITV Observational Documentary series about cab drivers in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England. U
ITVBollywood for Beginners
- CHANNEL 4 Documentary about mainstream Indian Cinema.
The Holiday Show
- BBC Travel Series.

External links

Irshad's websiteClips of Irshad's workElbow
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashraf, Irshad 1974 births Living people English documentary filmmakers People from York