Multiplatform journalist with 12+ years of experience reporting on elections, accountability and social movements in the U.S. and India — across print, digital and documentary.
Hello! I am a journalist and documentary filmmaker based in California, covering politics, immigration and the South Asian diaspora. My work has appeared in The Guardian, The Quint, Oakland North, The Oaklandside and Press Insider, among others. My work appears under the byline Ahamad Fuwad.
Over 12 years in newsrooms across India and the United States, I have covered global politics, diaspora movements and international affairs both as a reporter and editor. I led international news coverage at The Quint, one of India's most respected independent digital publications, and helped launch Press Insider, India's first global policy publication, as its head of bureau. My investigations into Hindu right-wing fundraising networks in the United States have prompted responses from civil rights organizations and law enforcement.
I am a Jubilee Fellow and graduate of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, where I specialized in documentary filmmaking, using long-form storytelling to examine the impact of majoritarian politics in India and the United States. I also hold master's degrees in Peace and Conflict Studies and Broadcast Technology from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.
Twelve years of reporting across two countries, from breaking news desks in India to investigations in the United States. I have covered politics, immigration and the South Asian diaspora for publications including The Guardian, The Quint and Oakland North.
My work spans documentary photo stories, field reporting and community portraiture. Fasting Together, my photo story on Ramadan at Berkeley Masjid, was published in Berkeley Journalism's annual magazine RealEyes.
I make character-driven documentaries on immigration, identity and politics. My latest film, Between Two Worlds, is currently in post-production and will soon screen at prestigious film festivals. Earlier work includes short documentaries produced at UC Berkeley and a series of shorts produced for Indian publications including The Quint and Press Insider.
An Iranian asylum seeker who fled persecution after the Women, Life, Freedom protests rebuilds his life in California — working multiple jobs, navigating a broken immigration system and even campaigning for Donald Trump — until ICE detention takes everything from him again. A non-linear portrait of detention as a recurring rupture that destabilizes identity, labor and belonging.
Two American activists — David Hummel, a 21-year-old German-American, and Dottie, a Jewish-American artist — travel to the occupied West Bank as part of an international protective presence effort, bearing witness to Palestinian life under occupation. The film moves between harrowing footage of settler attacks and quiet moments of humanity, culminating in the annual Marine Kite Festival in Burin, where children fly kites in defiance of a military ban. It closes with a recitation of Refaat Alareer's poem If I Must Die.
An observational documentary on the lives of firefighters at Berkeley Fire Department's Station 5 — the quiet routines, the waiting and the moments of stillness between emergency calls.
A video portrait of Chinese-American activist Brandon Lee, who was shot and paralyzed in the Philippines while advocating for Indigenous rights — and what drives him to continue the fight.
A documentary tracing the spices that changed the course of world history through Mattancherry in Kerala — a port town where ideas of cuisine and culture were exchanged on a global scale for centuries.
A documentary on Kashmiri rugs and their enduring cultural legacy, tracing intricate craftsmanship rooted in the Indo-Persian artistic tradition passed down through generations of weavers.
Available for commissions, collaborations and editorial assignments covering politics, immigration and the South Asian diaspora.
If you are a documentary filmmaker looking for a collaborator, I am available from research through production to post-production. I shoot on a Canon R5 C and have experience as an editor.
I am also available for photo assignments, including portraits and photojournalism work.