by NAZIM KARIM
A short and poignant new film captures the imagination and underscores social issues leading to suicides among girls in Northern Pakistan. Depicting the strains caused in families and villages by the impact of higher education, the film Darya Kay Iss Paar (This Bank of the River) makes its statement with little dialogue. The emotions, confusion, and despair are all too obvious in the actress who plays the part of a tormented young girl.
This 30-minute film, produced by Memphis resident Nighat Akbar Shah and directed by Shoaib Sultan, won three of the four major award categories at the New York City International Film Festival in April 2021 and was selected to the Cannes Court Metrage, the Short Film Corner, in July 2021. The film will be released to the public in early 2022.
The film was screened on September 2 for the Pakistan Senate’s Standing Committee on Human Rights. Nighat participated via a video link and discussed the issues that need to be addressed.
Nighat was raised in Chitral, Pakistan, to well-to-do parents, and her father, now retired, was elected twice as a member of the district council of Chitral in the early 80s. She is neither a film student nor a film enthusiast, so how did she become involved with this project? She says it was because she was raised not to complain but to be a problem solver. And this film is her attempt to address a serious issue.
On a visit to Chitral in 2019, Nighat recalls a day when she was
enjoying ”… the company of my grandmother, and the beauty of the
rugged landscape, and the summer fragrances in the mountain breeze. It
was a blissful evening in the hidden heart of the world that I had left
behind.”
This idyllic setting was shattered by screams that
Nighat first tried to ignore, “… thinking it was the sounds of
children playing. It wasn’t until those sounds came closer that we
realized they were the frantic cries of adults.” Soon, distraught
neighbors were bringing news that her beautiful cousin had committed
suicide by jumping into the river.
Nighat recalls that “People kept searching until it was very dark to see a trace of her. After that hellish night, we began to search for answers. We learned that she had been depressed and self-critical for some time, yet no one understood the depth of her despair.”
The Ismaili more