Ahlaam Yasmin (he/him) is a director, writer, and producer based in Chicago. Ahlaam’s work is a personal excavation of his cultural conservatory, shaped by generations of displacement, grief, and the search for belonging. His storytelling celebrates empathy, adventure, discovery, and platonic Black love, with a directorial style that carefully considers where and how light falls on characters as they navigate pivotal moments of self-determination. These films challenge cultural monoliths surrounding gender roles in Black and Desi communities, drawing from his life experience as a first-generation Coloured South African, Black, Desi, Muslim, Queer individual growing up in a rural town in Texas. He hopes to validate the experiences of those with similar marginalized identities and relieve feelings of isolation through on-screen visibility.

Recently, Ahlaam served as a Showrunner’s Assistant for John Wells Productions and MGM+ on Emperor of Ocean Park, set for release in July 2024. He is currently part of the 2024 Filmmaker’s Mixtape Challenge Cohort, curated by director Briana Clearly, where he produces and directs a short film each month throughout 2024.

In 2018, his documentary Chicago’s Smoothest, which follows two young skaters from Chicago’s South Side into the world of James Brown skating, received the 2018 Best of Medill Recognition. His work covering Black communities as a journalist propelled him to intern at the Emmy-nominated exhibition platform OTV | Open Television, where he contributed to the development of Black, queer stories across Chicago. Since then, Ahlaam has expanded his credits in the commercial, mainstream, and independent TV/film industries by assistant directing commercials for NatureMade Vitamins and lululemon, working as an office production assistant for 21st Century Media and Apple TV, and producing the independent short film Bad Blood and the series The Wolf Among Us. Ahlaam is currently creating and showrunning his flagship series, It’s a Serial Thing, which is projected to shoot in the fall of 2025.

He received his degree from Northwestern University.