Director - Sabiha Sumar studied Filmmaking and Political Science at Sarah Lawrence College in New York and History and Political Thought at the University of Cambridge. Sabiha has used her work to explore the relationship between civil society and political life and is concerned with stories that provide a greater understanding of human rights, religion and tolerance. Her first film, Who Will Cast The First Stone (for Channel Four, UK, 1987, Golden Gate Award at the San Francisco Film Festival) focused on the working class women's protest against Islamic laws introduced in Pakistan in 1979.

Don't Ask Why (for ZDF/3Sat, 1999) looked at the dreams and aspirations of a 17-year-old girl growing up in Pakistan against the backdrop of increasing religiosity in society. Her first feature film Khamosh Pani (Silent Waters), a Pakistani-French-German co-production, premiered at the Locarno International Film Festival in 2003, where it won the Golden Leopard for Best Film, Leopard for Best Actress and three other awards. Khamosh Pani has been presented at numerous film festivals around the world garnering tremendous critical acclaim and a total of 17 international awards. She recently won the Gold Award at Abu Dhabi Anasy Documentary Awards 2008 for her film Dinner with the President: A Nation's Journey.

Scriptwriter - Nigel Calder has been an independent science writer since 1966 with subjects ranging from particle physics to social psychology. Educated as a physicist (MA, Cambridge University), Calder began his writing career on the original staff of the London weekly magazine New Scientist, where he later served as Editor. Nigel Calder is the first TV professional to win the UNESCO Kalinga Prize for the popularization of science. He has scripted 30 hours of prime-time science documentaries for BBC-TV and Channel 4 – often with US co-producers including WNET, WTTW, WGBH and SC-ETV. Released in 2008 is The Cloud Mystery (Mortensen Film, Copenhagen) for which he was script consultant.

Calder was a friend of Salam’s for many years, sharing his interests in both fundamental science and world affairs. Salam was one of ten eventual Nobel physicists who took part in Calder’s TV documentary on particle physics, The Key to the Universe, produced in 1977 by Alec Nisbett for the BBC, WTTW (Chicago), BRT (Brussels) and KRO (Hilversum). Additionally, Calder is well known for his immensely popular books on science. A recent book, Magic Universe: The Oxford Guide to Modern Science for Oxford University Press (2003), reached the shortlist for the Aventis Prize for Science Books. His “book of the show” Einstein’s Universe remains a very popular guide to general relativity.

To read an excerpt from the Abdus Salam docufilm script click here.

Executive Producers

Omar Vandal (to the right) received his Ph.D. in Immunology and Microbial Pathogenesis from the Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences in New York City in 2007. Prior to this, Omar researched vaccine development at the Ohio State University and cancer at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He studied Biology and Chemistry at the College of Wooster. He has published numerous research articles and is the recipient of several research fellowships and awards. The public understanding and communication of science is one of his primary interests.