Rowan Dinar Athale is a British-Indian Film Director and Screenwriter from Barnsley, South Yorkshire. Rowan Athale made his feature-film debut as both writer and director with the acclaimed heist thriller - The Rise. Premiering internationally at TIFF, Rowan and the film went on to be nominated for numerous awards, including the Douglas Hickox Award at the BIFA's, Best Newcomer at the BFI LFF and the Discovery award at TIFF. In the summer of 2017 Rowan directed his second feature film, Strange But True. A noir-thriller, the film is produced by Fred Berger and stars Gregg Kinnear, Amy Ryan, Nick Robinson, Margaret Qualley, Brian Cox and Blythe Danner. CBS are releasing the film in America in 2018. Rowan is currently casting his next feature as director - Sci-Fi Thriller Little America. Written by Rowan Athale, Little America will be produced by Michael Bay and Platinum Dunes. Rowan has received several accolades as director and writer, including being named a Screen International Star of Tommorrow prior to making his feature debut; and being named as a BAFTA Breakthrough Brit upon it's release. Rowan is a partner in British production company Hook Pictures. He is the brother of composer, and frequent collaborator, Neil Dinar Athale.