What Will People Say

Iram Haq : 2017
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Sixteen year-old Nisha lives a double life. At home with her family she is the perfect Pakistani daughter, but when out with her friends, she is a normal Norwegian teenager. When her father catches her in bed with her boyfriend, Nisha's two worlds brutally collide. To set an example, Nisha's parents decide to kidnap her and place her with relatives in Pakistan. Here, in a country she has never been to before, Nisha is forced to adapt to her parents' culture. Nevertheless, the circumstances of her life won't allow her to give up the fight for her rights as a woman. Iram Haq's second feature premiered in the Platform section at Toronto Film Festival 2017, and had its UK premiere at Edinburgh International Film Festival 2018.

Full Contact

David Verbeek : 2015

Ivan, 35, is a UAV pilot who takes out targets in the Afghan-Pakistani border area, while he himself sits in the Creech Air Force Base in the Nevada desert just outside Las Vegas. Ivan has never been to the foreign countries of his attacks, nor has he ever touched the plane he uses to kill. Modern warfare keeps him safe and disconnected from his prey. However, he is thrown off course by a tragic event. When a terrorist training camp he destroyed turns out to have been a school, and many innocent lives were lost, Ivan has to shoulder a tremendous sense of guilt. After this incident he becomes overwhelmed by feelings that he is unable to process and Ivan's disconnectedness starts to apply to everything in his life. A psychological thriller taking place in the world of present-day warfare, in the shadows between the real and the virtual.

Tigers

Danis Tanović : 2014

Two filmmakers return from a research trip to Pakistan, troubled by inconsistencies in the story they are writing. They ask their subject Ayan, a young Pakistani salesman, to tell his story to their financiers' lawyer, on the record. If his story is true, and he can prove it's true, they can make the film. If not, the huge corporation whose methods they are attacking, could destroy them. Ayan is a young, recently married salesman who gets a job peddling locally made drugs to pharmacies and doctors. Despite the fact that the Pakistani-manufactured pharmaceuticals he sells are much cheaper than those sold by Western competitors, no one will trust or buy products that lack major brand names. His wife encourages him to apply for a job with Lasta, a large multinational, and Ayan is hired on a trial basis. It's not long before his natural charm and sales skills make him into a minor star, and Lasta then expands his responsibilities. However, one day he is devastated to see at first-hand what the selling of baby formula really means in certain cases. Shocked, Ayan sets out to challenge the system and the powers that be. A western TV crew make the documentary about his story and take him to Germany to promote it. He's promised he will return to Pakistan as a hero, but on the night of transmission, his former employers reveal a dark secret and suddenly it seems Ayan's story must go untold. Shaken by the true complexities of Ayan's experiences, the filmmakers realise they must tell the whole story, warts and all. But they too will soon discover the real power of a multinational corporation. Can the truth ever be told? Danis Tanović's feature premiered in competition at Toronto International Film Festival 2014.

Dukhtar

Afia Nathaniel : 2014

Fleeing with her ten-year-old daughter after the girl is promised in marriage as part of a peace treaty, the wife of a tribal chieftain is pursued through the mountains by both her husband and the intended groom's henchmen. At the age of fifteen, Allah Rakhi was given in marriage to the much older tribal chieftain Daulat Khan, who took her from her family in Lahore to live with him in the mountains. Now, two decades later, Daulat Khan is presented with the opportunity to make peace with rival tribe leader Tor Gul, and he seals the deal by offering his fellow chieftain his and Allah Rakhi's ten-year-old daughter Zainab in marriage. Tormented at the prospect that her daughter's life might be a repetition of her own, Allah Rakhi flees with the oblivious young girl in tow. Pursued by Daulat Khan and Tor Gul's henchmen, and knowing that she is highly conspicuous as an unaccompanied woman on a mountain road, Allah Rakhi manages to get a lift for her and Zainab by lying to a sympathetic truck driver, Sohail. When Sohail learns of the real reason for Allah Rakhi's flight, he is forced to decide whether he will endanger his own life to deliver mother and daughter to safety in Lahore. Afia Nathaniel's thriller, her feature debut, premiered at Toronto International Film Festival 2014.

Noor

Çağla Zencirci & Guillaume Giovanetti : 2012

Shafiq is known as Noor in Pakistan's Khusras transgender community, where he found the kind of love that changed his life. Now, however, he will appear as a man and take on a man's work for a company that ornately decorates transport trucks. He even finds a girl who loves him as he is. And despite objections from Yasmeen's brother, Noor goes ahead with the wedding plans. But a scuffle with a drunken rapist sends him on a journey in a stolen truck that forces him to redefine his own identity and his place in the world. Noor's destination is a mountain lake. According to his wise old boss Babu, the lake is shrouded in legend and will allow Noor to magically bring about a definitive transformation. Inspired by real events in the lead actor's life, the directors' debut feature premiered at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2012.