Nuala Shaar
Horizons Film Programme Producer
Nuala Shaar is a British-Syrian creative producer, programmer, curator, writer, director and photographer working across film, live performance and community events.
She strives to craft thoughtful, empowering and inclusive shared cultural experiences, facilitating radical empathy and frank, heartfelt conversation amongst audiences whilst celebrating true diversity and freedom of expression. Recent projects include work at the Belgrade Theatre (Coventry), Castlefield Art Gallery, the Barbican (London), the Niamos Centre, Edinburgh International Book Festival and Islington Mill.
Nuala holds a Master's Degree in Contemporary Literature and Film from MMU, for which she was awarded the Head of Department's Prize for Outstanding Achievement. She has collaborated with the British Film Institute (BFI), Community Arts North West, Comma Press, Manchester Animation Festival, Marsm UK and Music Action International, amongst others.
In 2025, she completed the inaugural HOME, Lowry, Z-Arts and Stage One Creative Producer Development (CPD) course.
The Horizons Festival 2026 Film Programme was produced, curated and faciliated by Nuala Shaar. Reflecting on the Horizons Festival 2026 Film Programme, Nuala said:
"Selecting films for Horizons Festival has been such an energising and cathartic experience, precisely because of what it's meant to all of us to lift our voices, together, in service of these wonderful stories: stories of movement, resilience, community and hope, from people who really know what it's like to live those themes. Empowering people with personal ties to these issues to tell our own stories, through curation and creation, is what makes Horizons Festival so unique, and so vital.
Most of all, I hope audiences will feel buoyed by seeing themselves reflected in the programme, in all their lively, vibrant complexity. In many ways, that's the kernel of what Horizons Festival is all about: togetherness, in all its forms. Solidarity. Advocacy. Community. Cultural exchange. Friendship. Family, both chosen and by blood.
Local and global, hand-in-hand; the bonds we share, everything the past has taught us, and our collective hopes for the future. And how we explore, embrace, define and redefine our own identities, as people with common experiences, through the connections we make with others; by finding our tribe, and loving others so that we may better learn how to love ourselves.
We are so proud to present this poignant collection of work: a kaleidoscopic encapsulation of many different shades of the migrant experience."