Karina Dandashi is a Syrian-American filmmaker born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA. Her films explore identity through the themes of love, grief and sexuality in the Arab-American diaspora. Karina was a 2021 Sundance x Adobe Ignite Fellow and featured in Marie Claire’s inaugural Creators Issue as one of the “Top 21 Creators to Watch”. Her feature script Out of Water was chosen for the Film Independent 2023 Screenwriting Lab. She’s been supported by organizations such as the Jerome Foundation, the Colin Higgins Foundation, the Muslim Public Affairs Council and the Heinz Endowments. Her coming-of-age short Baba I’m Fine premiered at SXSW in 2025. She is currently working on a feature based on her dark comedy short Cousins which is a Vimeo Staff Pick and featured on The New Yorker’s Screening Room.