Filmmaker in Person!
Sumar, best known for her astonishing feature Silent Waters, makes a triumphant return with this uplifting tale. Chance and willfulness propel Rafina’s rise as a fashion model in the city of Karachi. As she climbs the social ladder, Rafina is caught between two men with very different visions for Pakistan and on the role of women. In Sumar’s deft hands, this becomes the story of today’s Pakistan, trying to reconcile the demands of tradition and the aspirations of modernity. The film weaves these contradictions through the very landscape of Karachi, where political extremism and the world of fashion can – and do – co-exist.

Followed by: an on-stage conversation between Sumar and Anusha Rizvi (director of Peepli Live) on the changing role of women in South Asian cinema.