Raised in Nigeria and Pakistan, Bilal is a Physics Olympian turned filmmaker. She just directed her 7th film, Extinction, a dystopian future where the #MuslimBan is taken to its extreme.  Bilal’s debut feature,  Josh (Against The Grain) enjoyed theatrical and satellite distribution in three continents and still continues to stream online and show in festivals around the world. It is now part of the permanent selection at the US Library of Congress, the first Pakistani feature length film to have that honor. For her 2nd feature film, she was hired to direct The PHD Movie: Still in Grad School, a feature adaptation of the 7 million+ followed web comic, “The PhD Comics”. Next, Forbidden Steps, a film about Islamophobia and Dance, a Film Independent writer/director lab project, is scheduled for filming in Winter 2018 in Los Angeles and New York.

She is also developing three TV series, two scripted and one unscripted. Her first TV Series, The Pioneers, which showcases the mass migration from South Asia to the UK in the 1950s in response to Queen Elizabeth’s frantic call for labor from the commonwealth nations, is in talks with UK based Speakit Productions. Bilal is a member of Film Fatales and the Alliance of Women Directors, organizations looking to change female representation in Hollywood, and is a co-chair on the Asian American Writer’s Committee at the WGA. She is also engaged and interested in activism for the rights of marginalized communities both here in the US and in Pakistan. Bilal initiated the formation of the Pakistani Oscar committee and is the founder of Pakistan’s first professional screenwriting lab (QALAMBAAZ). She sits on the board of the Caltech Y and is a fellow of WIF, FIND, IFP and the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship.