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Draft:Nadia Latif

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  • Comment: I have looked over this draft and tried to give as objective a review as possible. Unfortunately, the majority of the sources used are either WP:PRIMARY, cover what Latif has been in rather than Latif herself, or are tabloids (in the case of WP:THESTANDARD). There isn't enough here to satisfy WP:ANYBIO at the moment. If we go off of ANYBIO here, Latif has not won any notable awards or been nominated for any (based on reading the draft text), Latif has not 'made a widely recognized contribution that is part of the enduring historical record in a specific field' and as a British producer, Latif does not appear in the Dictionary of National Biography. For this reason, Latif does not qualify for a standalone article on Wikipedia. This could change in the future however. 11WB (talk) 00:40, 20 October 2025 (UTC)



Nadia Latif
EducationUniversity College London, RADA
OccupationDirector

Nadia Latif is a British-Sudanese theatre producer and director.[1][2] Her directoral debut, The Man in My Basement, starring William DaFoe, was released in October 2025.[3]

She is mostly known for her work in theatre production, having worked with a number of British companies including the Almeida[4], Royal Shakespeare Company, National, Bush, Theatre503 and Arcol.[1][5]

Early life

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Latif grew up Khartoum and spent summers in London, attending theatre regularly, before her family moved to England when she was 14.[6] She has five siblings.[1]

Latif attended Unity High School in Khartoum and then Roedean School in England, completing her A Levels in 2002. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) from University College London (UCL) in 2006. She completed a Graduate Certificate in directing at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in 2007.[7]

Career

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Latif's work as a director was motivated by an early interest in both writing and participating in school plays in Sudan. In 2018, she trained at Royal Academic of Dramatic Arts (RADA) under Bill Gaskill.[1] She recalls as a child being interested her teacher's role in coordinating all components of a school drama production.[1] Having worked across both theatre and film, Latif has acknowledged the differences between the two media, particularly how the director is expected to prepare the actors for being in a film role vs. on stage for multiple performances.[8][9]

She is known for her unconventional scripts as a playwright, and ability to create convincing environments, such as her adaptation of Fairview's setting America to UK norms.[10][11][12][13][14] She has also written extensively about race, gender and popular culture,[15] contributing to the The Guardian from 2016 to 2017,[16] where she is best known for introducing a form of the Bechdel test for black characters in film alongside her sister; self-named the Latif test.[17]

Latif's projects, including The Man in My Basement, thematically discuss blackness and the perception or histories of black and brown individuals in western society.[18][19][20] Particularly, the film discuss the themes of racism, history and identity, at times, perceived to be heavy handed.[21][20][22] Given her thematic focus on both personal and historical identities, in a 2025 interview, she stated:

"I feel like my work is hopefully trying to always just be disruptive, to disrupt how people understand themselves and the world around them."[23]

Theatre

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In 2015, the National Youth Theatre cancelled the production of an original play, Homegrown, she was set to direct. The play was cancelled due to the sensitive topic, and police were called to investigate the script.[24][25][26] The script was later published, although the play never ran.[27][28]

In 2019, she was appointed Associate Director of the Young Vic Theatre, notably directing Jackie Sibblies-Drury's Pulitzer Prize winning play Fairview there,[29][30][31][10] and receiving a Genesis Fellow appointment from the Genesis Foundation in 2018.[32][33]

Film

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She has been recognized in a number of film festivals for her directorial work, prior to her debut, receiving placement in the Sundance Screenwriter's Lab in 2020.[34] In 2019 Screen International listed Latif as one of its filmmaker "stars of tomorrow".[35][36] Her 2022 film They Heard Him Shout Allahu Akbar was shown as part of Film4's Foresight Shorts series.[37][38][39]

Latif has worked on TV series as well as short and long film productions. She was a director on Foresight in 2021, and directed the short film, White Girl in 2019.[39]

Personal life

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Latif currently lives in Hackney, London.[2] She speaks conversational arabic.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Dunderdale, Sue (2021). "Interview with Nadia Latif" (PDF). Directing the Decades. Routledge.
  2. ^ a b Ivey, Prudence (20 April 2022). "Director Nadia Latif's guide to her diverse community of Eastenders". The Standard. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  3. ^ Leigh, Danny (11 Sept 2025). "The Man in My Basement film review — Willem Dafoe leads eerie exploration of what lies beneath". Financial Times. Retrieved 2025-10-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ "Under the Shadow". Almeida Theatre. Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  5. ^ "Slade School of Fine Art - Nadia Latif". Slade School of Fine Art. Archived from the original on 30 September 2023. Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  6. ^ Fishwick, Samuel (18 January 2019). "The Young Vic's Nadia Latif says being selective is how to keep up with London's culture". The Standard. Retrieved 18 October 2025.
  7. ^ "Nadia Latif" (PDF). Retrieved 18 October 2025 – via Squarespace.
  8. ^ Tajipour, Sean (12 September 2025). "Corey Hawkins, Anna Diop, and Director Nadia Latif Talk The Man in My Basement – INTERVIEW". Nerdtropolis. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  9. ^ "The Man In My Basement review: Willem Dafoe and Corey Hawkins anchor 'unnerving thriller'". Empire. 17 September 2025. Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  10. ^ a b "Fairview: Will Gompertz reviews the Pulitzer Prize-winning play at London's Young Vic ★★★★☆". 7 December 2019. Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  11. ^ "Even Stillness Breathes Softly Against a Brick Wall, Soho Theatre". Aleks Sierz. Retrieved 28 October 2025.
  12. ^ "The Man In My Basement : Capturing a Psychological Unraveling". The American Society of Cinematographers. Retrieved 28 October 2025.
  13. ^ Lukowski, Andrezj (5 December 2019). "Fairview review for TimeOut Magazine". TimeOut.
  14. ^ Thomas, Jade (2022). "From Freakshow to Sitcom: Metatheatrical (Dis)Continuities in Contemporary African American Plays" (PDF). Journal for Literary and Intermedial Crossings. 6 (2): 1–24.
  15. ^ "Nadia Latif: "You Don't See Colour? That Must Be Nice For You, Karen!"". A Younger Theatre. 30 June 2020. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  16. ^ "Nadia Latif". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  17. ^ Shoard, Catherine (21 January 2016). "Creativity is being wiped out as we demand that art reflects modern life". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 28 October 2025.
  18. ^ Gaughan, Liam (27 September 2025). "The Man in My Basement (2025) Movie Review: A Thought-Provoking but Sporadic Exercise in the Legacy of Horror". High On Films. Retrieved 28 October 2025.
  19. ^ Cocozza, Paula (7 September 2015). "Kristiana Rae Colón: #LetUsBreathe activist and 'defiant' poet and playwright". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 28 October 2025.
  20. ^ a b "The Man in My Basement". Film Review Daily. Retrieved 28 October 2025.
  21. ^ "Willem Dafoe and Nadia Latif on how history is written in 'Man in My Basement'". Los Angeles Times. 5 September 2025. Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  22. ^ Reed, Christopher Llewellyn (11 September 2025). "TIFF Review: "The Man in My Basement" | Film Festival Today". Retrieved 28 October 2025.
  23. ^ Cormack, Morgan. "The Man in My Basement's Nadia Latif is okay with 'viewers disagreeing'". Radio Times. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  24. ^ Ellis-Petersen, Hannah (4 August 2015). "Controversial Isis-related play cancelled two weeks before opening night". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  25. ^ "Homegrown director: 'My play didn't have an 'extremist' agenda - so why was it shut down?'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  26. ^ Morey, P. (2023). Tormented visibility: Extremism, stigma, and staging resistance in Omar El-Khairy and Nadia Latif’s Homegrown. Journal of Postcolonial Writing, 59(3), 331–346. https://doi.org/10.1080/17449855.2023.2216998
  27. ^ "Homegrown: NYT scrapped play over 'extremist agenda'". BBC News. 4 September 2015. Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  28. ^ O'Gorman, Daniel (2022). ""We've become the boogie men": Islamophobia, Schlock Horror and "Radicalization" in Omar El-Khairy and Nadia Latif's Homegrown". Postcolonial Text. 17 (2&3).
  29. ^ "Sunday Hot Spot: Nadia Latif". BFI Future Film Festival 2025. Retrieved 16 October 2025.
  30. ^ Minamore, Bridget (4 December 2019). "Fairview: the Pulitzer winner whose creator hopes it has a short shelf life". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  31. ^ Fabrique. "Winners announced at the Black British Theatre Awards". RADA. Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  32. ^ Burman, Cecile (23 January 2018). "Writer and Director Nadia Latif is named Genesis Fellow at the Young Vic". Genesis Foundation. Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  33. ^ Wild, Stephi. "Nadia Latif Named Young Vic Genesis Fellow". BroadwayWorld. Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  34. ^ Ward, Ben (17 December 2019). "Sundance Institute Names 2020 January Screenwriters Lab Fellows - sundance.org". Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  35. ^ "Screen unveils Stars of Tomorrow 2019". Screen International. Retrieved 16 October 2025.
  36. ^ Grater, Tom. "Stars of Tomorrow 2019: Nadia Latif (director)". Screen International. Retrieved 16 October 2025.
  37. ^ Gyamfi, Akua (27 April 2022). "Nadia Latif Director of 'They Heard Him Shout Allahu Akbar'". The British Blacklist. Retrieved 16 October 2025.
  38. ^ "They Heard Him Shout Allahu Akbar". Film4 Foresight Shorts. 2022. Retrieved 16 October 2025.
  39. ^ a b "They Heard Him Shout Allahu Akbar". Channel 4. Retrieved 19 October 2025.
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