Directed & Written by Anna Khaja
Short Narrative | 14.25 min | USA
Sunday, September 28th, 2025 | 6:00PM Screening
Neighborhood House at Christ Church
20 N. American Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106
Two different young women, Leila, from secular background, and Amara, from a religious one. Headbang explores the complex power of the hijab, and how a seemingly simple piece of cloth embodies both what the wearer imbues it with and what society projects onto to it.
Director’s Bio
Anna Khaja
Director/Writer
Anna is a Pakistani-American, Muslim-American multi-hyphenate. She is the recipient of the Google x Black List Storytelling Fellowship (2022) and the Grand Prize Winner of Screencraft’s Pilot Competition (2023). Her play SHAHEED: The Dream and Death of Benazir Bhutto (written and performed by Khaja) had an acclaimed and extended Off-Broadway run in NY, as did her recent Off-Broadway stint In FATHERLAND at MTC in NY.
Anna is also a well-known actress with a strong Film and TV presence and recurring roles on ‘The Good Place,’ ‘The Walking Dead’ franchise, ‘The Lincoln Lawyer,’ ‘Silicon Valley, “Madam Secretary,” to name a few. She also stars as Jaya in the Netflix feature ‘Definition Please’ written/directed by Sujata Day and produced by Ava DuVernay.
Early in her career, Khaja portrayed one-dimensional representations of voiceless Muslim women. Now, she tells her own stories about complicated Muslim females who ultimately define themselves.
HEADBANG is her directorial debut. She is currently in pre-production on her first feature “Bhai” (“brother” in Urdu).
“If you obey all the rules,
you miss all the fun.”
Katherine Hepburn
Actor
thewomensfilmfestival.org 