Nabat Shir is a Fulbright Scholar, Student Emmy Award-winning director, screenwriter, and producer from Turkmenistan — the first female filmmaker from her country to emerge on the international stage with a film premiere in Hollywood. She holds an MFA in Film & Television from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) and is an alumna of the Muskie Program. 

          Her short film The Window (2024) premiered at festivals in Los Angeles (LA Femme IFF, City of Angels FF), winning Best Female Director and multiple European awards including Best Short Film. It was selected by SCAD to represent the university in submissions to the Student Academy Awards, Emmys, and DGA Student Awards.

          Her commercial work includes Mimi Meets Mio, a Kraft Heinz project that received a Southeast Student Emmy® Award and a Bronze Pencil at the One Club for Creativity’s Young Ones Awards.

          Shir’s films explore women on the verge of transformation — stories of sacrifice, awakening, and profound change. Her work blends atmospheric visual storytelling with emotional resonance, exploring consciousness, identity, and the quiet tensions that shape female experience.

          Committed to amplifying female-driven storytelling, she founded Women in Film: Directing Fundamentals — Turkmenistan’s first hands-on training program for emerging women filmmakers. The initiative empowered the country’s first generation of female directors and advanced gender equality in cinema.