Film ‘Hum Saya’ Wins Big At Venice Intercultural Film Festival

News Desk

Islamabad: The Pakistani film ‘Hum Saya (Neighbour)’ received the award for ‘Best Short Documentary on Human Rights’ at the prestigious Venice Intercultural Film Festival 2023.

The film is produced by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) and is based on many of CSJ’s research and advocacy ventures focusing on human rights, democratic development, and social justice for marginalised groups in Pakistan in particular.

‘Hum Saya’ will be screened in Venice, Italy, on June 23, also at Kellogg College, University of Oxford, on June 16, 2023; and other places around the world.

The film blends real-life stories of girls who faced the agony of abductions, forced conversions and forced marriages. It also features the ordeal of the families who suffer from this multi-faceted criminality.

Although religious freedom is a fundamental right under Article 20 of the Constitution of Pakistan, it is persistently infringed upon. ‘Hum Saya’ helps the audience understand the importance of this constitutional right in people’s daily lives.

Director Dawood Murad has woven the three stories to reach the conclusion that a victim’s first line of protection exists in their immediate environs, i.e., the people sharing their neighbourhood, class, and people who experience the same marginalisation as religious minorities. Therefore, the character Jamal Haider and a neighbour of Asif Masih are real-time heroes struggling to bring back a daughter (S) from captivity under the false pretext of faith conversion and marriage.

The storyline delves into the victims’ perspective, situated in Sindh as well as Punjab. Importantly, Lal Chand Malhi, a vocal ex-parliamentarian, walks the audience through the causes and manifestations of trespasses against the fundamental right of religious freedom, as well as the infringement of rights to self-autonomy and freedom of movement that many daughters of Pakistan are facing.

CSJ reported 124 incidents of forced conversions, child marriages, and forced marriages in 2022. Out of these, 59 per cent of the girls were minors, and the ages of 28 per cent of the girls were not reported. Hindus, Christians, and Sikh minorities continued to face the criminality of forced conversions, as 39 cases had already been reported by May 2023.