Straight out of Lahore

As the novel coronavirus started to spread, medical professionals quickly came into the spotlight. Documentary filmmaker Omer Nafees shows that their fight on the frontlines against the coronavirus pandemic is most certainly worthy of the attention. In 2020, Nafees' film "Unbound Breath" won the video story contest organized by Dawn Media and DW in Pakistan. In his film, Nafees takes the audience through a day in the life of doctor Amna Batool, a young woman who is pursuing a career instead of settling down as expected by society. Batool decides to join the coronavirus ward despite suffering from asthma.

Nafees’ documentaries are based on authentic people, he says and therefore, "they belong to the people." Growing up in Lahore, Nafees was a strong observer of society from an early age and started to capture neglected realities in his surroundings with a basic camera which he got as a present from his brother. His films feature various characters from a self-taught skater to a man who fosters pigeons in the heart of Lahore. "When working on a new character, I always go in with an open mind, to get a full image of a story."

Nafees graduated from the prestigious National College of Arts in Lahore and belongs to the younger generation of filmmakers in Pakistan. He likes making noncommercial documentary films as they are "raw, independent, and impactful" and go far "beyond storytelling, and can be a strong medium to provoke thoughts and actions in societies."

With its rich history and diverse cultural landscape, Pakistan has an abundance of stories. As a young filmmaker in Pakistan, Nafees believes the video contest by DW and Dawn media has had an impact on young talents in Pakistan, he tells Weltzeit, adding that it "did a great job in encouraging the production of great films." The film market in Pakistan is small but, according to Nafees, things are getting better since online streaming services have become easily available. This has resulted in people developing a greater interest in and an eye for good films.

Nafees was very surprised by the appreciative and supportive response from the audience during the video contest: "I loved the fact that people could really connect with the aspects of my characters and their stories." He welcomes the opportunity that the project has provided young filmmakers "to share the stories they wanted to tell," says Nafees about the film competition #ItHappensOnlyInPakistan.

Omer Nafees (left) during a shoot in Lahore, Pakistan.

The documentary contest #ItHappensOnlyInPakistan

is hosted by DW and Dawn Media. It puts young filmmakers into the limelight. Launched in 2018, #ItHappensOnlyInPakistan is a nationwide video story contest that invites filmmakers to submit short documentary films on subjects that are uniquely Pakistani. The media houses Dawn and DW developed a collaboration to promote talented filmmakers from across Pakistan.

The competition focuses on film and creates a much-needed space for local documentary filmmakers to showcase their talent and work, as well as to highlight unique stories about Pakistan. At the start of the collaboration, there was skepticism on how the standard Dawn audience would react to stories that didn’t address hard news or fall within the boilerplate current affairs style of storytelling. However, the films have been well received. Last year’s contest was the most successful yet with over five million views.

What makes the film competition so appealing to the audience is how authentically each subject is tackled in the film. In addition to the topics, one can see how much local talents have to offer. The project did very well among the film-making community, with over 2,000 entries coming in from all over the country in the contest’s first edition in 2018. 

The projects that Dawn and DW have collaborated on, such as the #OurDiversePakistan project, have all gained traction and encouraged young, previously littleknown filmmakers to come forward and share their work on a broader platform, making these avenues critical to the exposure that Pakistani filmmakers and stories from Pakistan ought to get. It is via this exposure that filmmakers can overcome some of the critical challenges they would otherwise face in finding their feet in the media and establishing their name, which is almost always a prerequisite to advancing their work and their careers and most importantly in securing credible sponsors so they may produce important and meaningful work.

#ItHappensOnlyInPakistan

dawn.com

This article is part of the 2021 English issue of the DW corporate magazine Weltzeit. Read the full magazine here: Weltzeit: Local insight, global reach. Working in a strong network with partners.