Arwa Aburawa and Turab Shah are an artist duo based in London. Their work is focused on gathering people together to talk, to learn and to create films. This gathering is facilitated through a project they established in 2019 called ‘Other Cinemas’ which regularly hosts community screening and discussions in Brent, which centre Black and non-white communities and help build solidarities by connecting struggles. They also run a year-long film school for a small group of Black and non-white artists which encourages them to learn, collaborate, create and build communities outside of institutional structures. This school is now in its fourth iteration.

The films Aburawa and Shah create reflect on the forces which shape the communities they belong to, such as displacement, race, environmental harm and other legacies of colonialism. Their films are also guided by questions of justice and how those in the margins create vital spaces for resistance, knowledge production, and alternative ways of being. Works by Aburawa and Shah have been exhibited at LUX, Humber Street Gallery and as part of the Brent Biennial in 2022. Festival screenings have included CPH:DOX, Dokufest, London Short Film Festival (awarded Best Short Documentary in ’25) and BlackStar Film Festival(awarded Best Short Documentary in 2024). Screenings of their work have taken place at Camden Arts Centre, Mosaic Rooms, Nottingham Contemporary, Framer Framed and at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.