Father of autistic girl wins two Telly Awards for new short film

Mohammed Williams has won two Telly Awards for his new short film, Love Zurri. The awards recognized his work in directing and social impact. The project centers on the daily realities of raising a child with autism.

Williams serves as both the executive producer and the lead actor. He drew the script from his own family life. He noted that fathers are frequently absent from public discussions about raising children with special needs.

He said, "A lot of these stories when they're told, you never really see it from the dad's perspective. You always see it from the mom's perspective .. the moms, they have like mom groups, they have all these support groups that I just didn't see for dads."

The film includes a scene where Williams runs through a location while his character, Zurri, is missing. This sequence mirrors a specific event from his past. Williams explained that the memory was intense for him during the shoot.

He stated, "That scene is exactly what happened and the tears that were coming up, it was just really me being back in that same space and the director Okima T. Moore had to actually pull me back and we had to stop production."

Williams views his role as a parent as a continuous learning process. He said, "I feel like I'm learning so much more from her than she is learning from me .. I'm learning how to be patient, learning how to just like listen a little bit more."

Zurri is now 10 years old. She has already seen the finished film. Williams recalled her active role on the production set. He said, "She thinks it's cool, you know, she was on set .. yelling cut, yelling action .. I feel like, you know, at some point Zurri might have a future in the arts. She's extremely creative."