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Looking at award winning Pakistani short films

By Instep Desk
Fri, 11, 18

Instep lists down five short films that have won accolades at different international film festivals.

It is quite inspiring to see local films consistently make waves on global platforms. During the last couple of years, various Pakistani films have made it big internationally and have won awards in different categories at various international film festivals.

The list includes films such as Asim Abbasi’s Cake, Punjab Nahi Jaungi, Chalay Thay Saath and the most recent, Gumm. It’s not only feature-length films, but a number of Pakistani short films that have been screened at different foreign film festivals with some of them even winning various awards. Read on as Instep gives you a low down on five award winning Pakistani short films…

Rani

Pakistani short film Rani features transgender model and activist Kami Sid. Written and directed by Hammad Rizvi and produced by Akbar Allana and Sara Siddiqi, the short film has been shot on the streets of Karachi. It is a unique story that revolves around a transgender called Rani, who is a toy vendor. Rani’s life changes after she finds an abandoned infant and decides to become a parent. Being a transgender, her decision to take care of the child unfolds some harsh realities that she has to face.

The short recently won the Outstanding Writer Award at the prestigious NBCUniversal Short Film Festival, held in Los Angeles. Apart from this, Rani also won the Fox Inclusion Short Award at the Outfest Los Angeles Film Festival earlier this year.

In the past, Rani has been screened at the Rhode Island International Film Festival; Newport Beach Film Festival, California; CAAMFEST, San Francisco; Asian American International Film Festival, New York; Tasveer South Asian Film Festival 2018 in Seattle and at the recently concluded Lone Star Film Festival in Texas.

Arz-e-Pakistan

Ali Sohail Jaura’s travel film, Arz-e-Pakistan (Land of Pakistan), captures the true essence of Pakistan and highlights the natural beauty of our country. With the aim to promote both local and international tourism in the Northern regions of Pakistan, eight team members traveled more than 6000 kilometers to capture the scenic beauty and raw nature of the northern tourist and hiking attractions of Pakistan. It included major regions of Kashmir, Hunza, Gilgit, Skardu, Swat, Naran, Kaghan, and Fairy Meadows.

The travel short film, released last year, has won a number of awards including the Best Travel Commercial, Travel Film Festival, held in Moscow, Russia and the Platinum Travel Film of the Year, India Film Project, held in Mumbai, India. Quite recently, it picked up the Best Nature and Rural Tourism Film trophy at 7th Zagreb Tourfilm Festival (international tourism festival) and also won the first prize in Nature Tourism at the 13th FilmAT Festival.

Lala Begum

Mehreen Jabbar’s Lala Begum follows the story of two estranged sisters, Meher (essayed by Marina Khan) and Seher (Sonia Rehman), placed in the 70s, who haven’t spoken to each other in over two decades.

After the tragic demise of her husband, Seher has no option but to return to her hometown to live with her older sister, Meher. But Meher has made it clear that Seher is not welcome in their home, as she had been tending to the house for all these years. The two are brought together by circumstances and as they attempt to overcome their differences, long-held truths begin to unravel.

On the international front, the short film, written by Syed Mohammad Ahmed, bagged the award for Best Screenplay at the 6th Annual Washington DC South Asian Film Festival (DCSAFF), while earlier this year it won the Best Feature Film at Pakistan International Film Festival (PIFF).

Deception

The short film, helmed by young filmmaker Ruhina Nasir, has been screened at various international film festivals and has picked up two international awards: Best Nano Film of the Month at AAB International Film Festival in India and the award for Best Two Minutes Short at Bengal’s International Short Film Festival, also in India.

The two-minute short film, shot at Empress Market in Karachi, revolves around a vendor, who sells vegetables on the streets of Karachi and uses deceptive means to earn money. A chance event puts him face to face with the person he deceives and from there things take a turn.

Deception has already been screened at 10 international film fests including The Buddha International Film Festival (TBIFF), India; Changing Face International Film Festival, Australia; Rome Independent PRISMA Film Awards; MOTIF Film Festival in Warsaw, Poland and Queen Palm International Film Festival in California, USA, India among others.

Mey Rahungi

Directed and written by Shamoon Abbasi, short film Mey Rahungi is a part of his web series, titled 6dapack that highlights the strength of a woman, who narrates her story as she goes through life threatening events.

The story is based on the empowerment of women and their strength to confront any thing in life that comes the hard way. Mey Rahungi stars Sherry Shah (who is also the producer of the short) and Saleem Mairaj in lead roles. The movie shows the strength of a woman (essayed by Sherry Shah), who is kidnapped and then breaks free from the people who kidnap her.

Dubbed as a thriller, the short recently bagged four awards at the Crossover Film Fest (CFF), Woodbridge Virginia.

It won the Best Indie Film in a foreign language; Best Action Director; Best Lead Role by an Actress and Best Supporting Role by an Actor in a foreign film.