Nelufar Hedayat

Nelufar Hedayat’s work focuses on environmental issues and cultural upheaval. Born in Afghanistan, she came to Britain as a refugee which has shaped her work, creating a unique point of view and a passion for telling the stories of fringe and marginalized communities.

Her work connects with a global audience and is immersive and impact driven, often shining a light on the consequences of our actions and challenging our perceptions of the world. She has created a body of work across both sides of the Atlantic with British and American broadcasters, from self-authored returnable series to guest hosting alongside Morgan Freeman, for the likes of Nat Geo’s "The Story of God." Her other work has been across Vice, Fusion, Newsy, The Guardian and the BBC, with her signature empathetic, pioneering and insightful approach. Her recent Newsy film "Plastic Time Bomb," which she hosted and directed, was nominated for an EMMY in 2023 and her powerful podcast "Kabul Falling" was nominated for a Peabody Award.

The returnable 8-part series "The Traffickers" (Fusion/Netflix), saw her travel across the globe following the illegal trades of precious minerals, counterfeit drugs, endangered species and even people. In this series, and with all her other work, Hedayat gains the trust of her interviewees which enabled her to push for deeper insightful interviews that translate powerfully on screen. This trust enables her to explore and understand the actions and reasoning of characters often with polar opposite opinions including corrupt politicians and human traffickers without judgement or preconceived opinions.

An early pioneer of the subject of food ethics and suitability, Hedayat presented "Food Exposed with Nelufar Hedayat" which examined how our eating habits were impacting the world. The 8-part series, made for Fusion, saw her explore the journeys our food makes, the processes that go into this ever growing market and what the growing demand costs the planet and the people growing our food.

Hedayat has received a plethora of awards and accolades including Correspondent of the year Gracie Award from the Alliance for Women in Media and was invited by The Pope to join Summit of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences’ and to be signatory on the Resolution on Organ Trafficking, (ratified by the Council of Europe) following her film on the subject.