Ian Bawa is a South Asian filmmaker from Winnipeg, Manitoba. He’s best known for his films Offline, The Champ, Imitations, and Tapeworm. His short ‘Strong Son’ premiered at 2020 Toronto International Film Festival. His last film, ‘My Son Went Quiet,’ premiered at the 2024 Slamdance Film Festival and 2024 Fantasia Film Festival. Ian is the director and host of SuperChannel’s feature documentary, ‘Seeking Fire’, and the CBC Gem documentary series ‘Finding Diamond’, which also stars and is co-hosted by Ian’s dog, Diamond. In 2024, Ian won the Hot Docs/Doc Institute Breakthrough pitch contest for his feature documentary, Brown Envelope, which also awarded him a development deal with CBC for the film.

Ian is an alumni of the 2021 TIFF Filmmakers Lab, 2021 ReelWorld E20 Lab, 2021 Netflix’s Diversity of Voices Initiative, and in 2023 completed his residency at the Norman Jewison Canadian Film Center – Director’s Lab. Ian’s latest short film, ‘The Best,’ will have its World Premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. He is the recent recipient of Telefilm’s Talent to Watch program, to which awarded him funding for his first feature film, ‘Strong Son,’ set to shoot in the fall of 2024.