by RIDA LODHI
Filmmaker’s Patakha Pictures awarded grants to aspiring filmmakers while teaching them technical skills
The year is 2002. Aspiring filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is dreaming big – hoping to change the narrative when it comes to telling much-needed stories in Pakistan. She’s struggling. With little exposure and limited resources, Obaid-Chinoy is in a dire strait. She eventually finds a magazine lying around that somehow relinquishes her faith in her art.
“This magazine had statistics,” the now two-time Oscar-winning filmmaker told an inspired crowd at a posh Karachi hotel. “One thing that particularly caught my eye was that from the period of 1963 to 1966, Pakistan made 65 documentaries that ended up winning over 20 awards around the world.”
The Saving Face maker, who’d later go on to study and work under some of the most nuanced minds in her craft, added, “When I opened my eyes in 1978, that was not the Pakistan that earned awards globally. I think that several years later, the time has come to lay the foundation of filmmaking in Pakistan and give back to the people. Patakha Pictures is our passion project that aims to achieve the same. I would say that the women you are about to meet today are my heroes.”
The Ms. Marvel director furthered that it was the participants’ sheer will, determination and passion that helped them tell the stories they wished to tell from the communities they belonged to.
Obaid-Chinoy’s latest venture brought together 19 filmmakers from different parts of Sindh and Balochistan, offering them grants and monetary compensation while teaching them the technical skills to tell the stories they wanted to showcase to the world. The audience saw a few glimpses of the ten documentaries the 19 filmmakers had presented. The Silence After the Storm, Karachi Begums, Niswan-Nama – Women, Theatre, Activism — A Tale from Pakistan, Nayyar – An Art Story, Made With Love, Sculpted, Defiance, Pehchaan, Tum Nahi Chara Gar, Kawish and From Rocks to Gold – Doch The Art of Balochistan were screened and it was evident that the participants’ labour of love was made with intense detailing.
“The whole idea is to be the ecosystem for the female filmmakers of this country,” Obaid-Chinoy told The Express Tribune in an exclusive statement. “What we’re doing is laying seed for that to germinate and grow. When these women learn skills, when they get mentorship, and they get funding, they can go back to their own communities and help educate other filmmakers. That’s how we will have female DOPs, female sound masters, and female editors. We won’t just be about helping female filmmakers or actors but women who are technically sound to create films.”
‘Close to their hearts’
“These women come from those communities. They live there; they speak the language, and they know the issues. There’s no better storyteller than the one who is part of the community they want to highlight. That is why they have the access they do,” Obaid Chinoy commented.
The Epress Tribune for more