Labid Aziz

Labid Aziz is a film producer and the CEO of content studio People of Culture Studios. Labid is a strategic, operations-focused executive who understands the qualitative and quantitative elements needed to build successful creative content and companies.

Aziz gained his operational knowledge while holding senior management positions in companies in the technology and media/communications industries but he also has significant experience in feature film finance and production. Aziz is a producer of successful and critically acclaimed short films.

About People of Culture Studios

PoC Studios is a uniquely diverse and forward-thinking content studio offering an all-inclusive approach to producing, financing, and distributing film and TV content intended for a global audience – all under one house. From development to distribution, PoC Studios supports creatives with resources and infrastructure to bring to life the stories they care about most.

The PoC team puts its combined creative power and resources behind producing a selective slate of diverse stories and edgy material living at the intersection of prestige and global commercial appeal. The company has the capacity to develop, package, finance, produce and release a broad array of films and TV series for worldwide distribution, and serves as a catalyst for elevated projects tailored for major studios, streamers and networks.

Aziz’s 2005 film, Raisins Not Virgins: Abdul

This film brings to light crucial issues for Americans both Muslim and non-Muslim in the time of tremendous political and racial turmoil. It begs to question people’s notion of entitlement, their identity and what it means to truly experience Jihad.

“Who is more American and what makes us different? Is it not which makes us the same? As immigrants, Abdul makes sacrifices for the family and for a better future in the land of opportunities – a reflection of what we are all seeing today and the misinterpretations of religious texts everywhere in all religions”.

Aziz believes that storytelling is one of the ways in which we keep our culture alive. As he explained to Hilton Supra during a recent interview, this is especially important for communities of colour:

“Culture is above all, something we shouldn’t judge people on, we should try to embrace it. And that notion of culture I learned about in Brandice from the Jewish community. Lean back into the purpose and mission mantra of ‘Using the transformative power of storytelling, injecting it with love, and dignity, and truth, and fun, telling stories of People of Colour to the world and hopefully in some small way be able to heal the trauma and the pain that so many People of Colour face and just unite through the transformative power of storytelling. That, as you know, existed since the dawn of time.”

On the use of technology in film

Aziz believes that in spite of what current trends in the technology world are, Blockchain and NFTs are going to stay in the film industry for the long term.

“I think Blockchain, crypto, and even the dirty word NFTs right now, because some people don’t look at it fondly, I think it’s just an extension of Kickstarter, and the crowdfunding that happened with that model, and allowing us to engage and then to be fully transparent in how capital is used and what the smart chain, smart contracts and what not are doing, so being okay with being transparent. It is good to be transparent. Let us be transparent and let us talk to the truth of the business and say ‘here are the pain points and here is how we are going to address them. Here is our model from development to monetisation and distribution.”