HANGING BY A WIRE (2026) Tribeca 2026

 

Visually impressive (see this on a big screen if you can) about the efforts to rescue 8 people who were trapped 900 feet above the floor of a valley when two of three cables holding it up snapped.

Using a mix of actual footage and recreations this film is visually amazing. Seeing it big impressed the hell out of me. If you hate heights you might get vertigo. It's a hell of a story and the visuals impress the danger on you.

The trouble is the telling is unfocused and bland. There is no point of view. The film is everyone's story all at the same time so we get no sense of urgency. We follow the fathers, a reporter, several of the rescuers amd eventually the boys. Everyone is given equal weight and equal coverage. But there is no suspense. The biggest question is who is going to save the boys the rich guy or the poor guy.

As great as the story, its poorly told. Yes, we are hooked, but largely because we just want to see what happens, not because what happens is excitingly told.

Oh to have this told by a great action director.

Is it worth seeing?

Yes, but not at festival prices. Despite the visuals making this a big screen film, the telling makes me think this is going best playing on TV.

GHOST SCHOOL(2025) NYICFF 2026

A young girl in Pakistan finds that her school is closed. Rumor is that it is haunted and the ghosts have scared away the adminstrators. Knowing that isn't the case she goes to investigate.

This is a good little drama that is going to work better for some people than others. I say this because the film is mostly the girl going from person to person in her village asking them what is really going on. It's an eye opening portrait of life in a small village in Pakistan where officials take advantage of their constituants by either stealing money or forcing them to pay bribes. While not a cynical as this could have been had this been aimed squarely at adults, the film still paints a portrait that shows life isn't always a bowl of cherries.

I liked it but at the same time I know it isn't for everyone.

Glassworker (2024) Opens August 14

As Vincent, a glassmaker in Waterside Town, prepares for an exhibition of his work, he runs across a letter from the girl he once loved and he thinks back to their meeting as children, right before war broke out on to their troubled parting.

Set in a time outside of time, it looks to be the late 19th or earlier 20th century but has designs that seem to be decades later. It's set in a world where the countries are not identifiable. There is no real world connection, this is like every where and nowhere that looks Western. It is a time and place that exists only in our heads and hearts. It is also a film that relies on visual references to Studio Ghibli, with Vincent's father looking like Hayao Miyazaki (we first see him drawing at a table much like the great director). 

While the set up of this story may make it seem like we've been here before the film quickly begins to shift into unexpected ways. This is very much a war story while always being a romance. It's a film that uses the the thread of romance to hang a lot of weighty subjects on for us to consider. This isn't just a romance but a film that ponders the stupidity of war,  how it changes everyone, and how we deal with losing the one person we love most in the world. It's a film that works because it is a film with complex characters that are aren't what you find in most animation, but complex works of art. They are so well drawn that they become like family. I  fell into the film and ended up being moved to tears by the ending.

I love the arc of this film. I love that we are not watching a movie but instead experiencing a novel. 

Hour after seeing the film I find myself haunted. I want to dive back in. I want to hang out with these friends and ride the rollercoaster of their lives again.

When this film comes near you you must see it.

Collaborator (2024) Dances With Films New York

In the disputed Kashmir valley between India and Pakistan a young man is forced by Indian authorities to walk through the valley to collect the identity cards of the dead.  Wanting to be free of the task he tries to flee to Pakistan however  they think he is still in the employ of India. Upon returning to India they think he is working for Pakistan. Is there anyway that he can get out of the middle?

Based on the autobiographical novel from writer Mirza Waheed, this is a film is a moving look at how people get trapped between battling countries. It’s tense story that shows how officials don’t care about the truth only how things can be turned to their advantage.

I really liked this film a great deal. While not on my original Dances With Films dance card I jumped at the chance to see it.

While the film can be a little too talky at times, the cast and the tension of the situations presented make this more than worth your time.

Recommended

The Glassworker (2024) Annecy 2024

As Vincent, a glassmaker in Waterside Town, prepares for an exhibition of his work, he runs across a letter from the girl he once loved and he thinks back to their meeting as children, right before war broke out on to their troubled parting.

Set in a time outside of time, it looks to be the late 19th or earlier 20th century but has designs that seem to be decades later. It's set in a world where the countries are not identifiable. There is no real world connection, this is like every where and nowhere that looks Western. It is a time and place that exists only in our heads and hearts. It is also a film that relies on visual references to Studio Ghibli, with Vincent's father looking like Hayao Miyazaki (we first see him drawing at a table much like the great director). 

While the set up of this story may make it seem like we've been here before the film quickly begins to shift into unexpected ways. This is very much a war story while always being a romance. It's a film that uses the the thread of romance to hang a lot of weighty subjects on for us to consider. This isn't just a romance but a film that ponders the stupidity of war,  how it changes everyone, and how we deal with losing the one person we love most in the world. It's a film that works because it is a film with complex characters that are aren't what you find in most animation, but complex works of art. They are so well drawn that they become like family. I  fell into the film and ended up being moved to tears by the ending.

I love the arc of this film. I love that we are not watching a movie but instead experiencing a novel. 

Hour after seeing the film I find myself haunted. I want to dive back in. I want to hang out with these friends and ride the rollercoaster of their lives again.

When this film comes near you you must see it.

Kommissar X jagt die roten Tiger - FBI: Operation Pakistan a.k.a. Tiger Gang (1971)

The final film in the Kommisar X series is also the hardest to find. I know because in deciding to review the entire series it was the one that gave me the hardest time running down. I could get an expensive copy on EBay but I really didn’t want to do that. I could find copies in German but that would prevent my doing a review. I finally stumbled on an awful print on You Tube and after fifteen minutes I realized why the film is so hard to find, it’s so bad no one wants to release it.

The plot of the film has Walker and Rowland getting involved in smashing a secret brotherhood which is running opium out of Afghanistan into Iran, Iraq and eventually Pakistan where it is then sent to the US. Little happens, and none of it is exciting.

A Pakistani co-production the film doesn’t feel like any of the other films in the series. It was one of the first international co-productions with the Pakistani film industry, made to help spark further co-productions. While further films happened it wasn’t because of this film, which frequently forgets the nominal main characters (are they even in this?) in order to highlight Pakistani location and characters. While it wouldn’t be bad if it moved things along, that isn’t the case and things just seem to run on and on to get things to feature length.

More comedy than action film (there is almost no real action) the film takes the worst parts of the series and amps them up. It’s all tongue in cheek and jokey with the result none of it is funny or engaging. It’s so bad that I would have shut it off had not committed to reviewing the film.

What were they thinking?

I guess everyone wanted a pay check. And I really mean this is a pay check film or a paid vacation because everyone looks like they are on holiday at a resort making a home movie. No matter how serious things are supposed to be everyone has a smile or a smirk on their faces. Clearly they had a grand time…

… which is something that doesn’t carry over to the audience- this is just a painful viewing experience. It’s so bad you know why this killed the franchise.

This is a sad ignoble end to a super series. Honestly this is the only film in the entire Kommisar X series that isn’t worth the effort

Avoid this film at all costs.

Altered Skin (2018) Blood in the Snow 2018

ALTERED SKIN is the outbreak/zombie movie that I’ve been waiting to see for a while but didn't know it. In a genre where we have sensationalistic monstrous killers that move like lightning and take over the world, here we have an illness that is quietly destroying lives and slowly breeding fear.

The film is about Craig Evans an American ex-pat living in Pakistan. His wife is a doctor who contracts the MN-2 virus from a patient who has a sudden violent outburst. The virus slowly takes over the patient causing madness and violent outbursts. There is a medicine that will stave off the effects but it isn’t a cure. The virus can be slowed if the victim is put into a coma which is what happens to Craig's wife. Craig is contacted by the wife of an investigative journalist who was found dead. She asks him to continue her husband’s investigation because as an American he has greater freedom than any Pakistani. He begins following the clues and discovers links to a pharmaceutical company.

Wonderfully low key and slow burn this is almost the exact opposite of your current typical outbreak/zombie film. This is a film about people trying to find out the course of a disease. We have real characters here not types. People talk to each other like real people and not in movie speak. It all feels wonderfully real. The situations are not contrived movie plotting but reasonably realistic ones.

Basically this is a thriller for adults and I loved it.

I suspect that those wanting a balls to the wall flesh ripping story are going to be disappointed. This is not that film. This is a film that is about people not effects or gore. Yes, the effects are chilling, The milky white eyes bloody ooze and distorted features we see on some of the victims is truly terrifying because it’s not over done and not constant. We see it here and there with result it breeds fear because we are not used to it. We notice any decay, or any sign of how long they have been changed and it scares us.

Mostly though this is a tale of people. Specifically it is about Craig and the people he meets. The collection of doctors, police, patients and others feel real. These are people we could meet in real life. Their lives carry weight and we can imagine them going through their paces off screen. That any film manages to give everyone seeming full live is rare, however in a horror film it’s rarer.

ALTERED SKIN is a masterpiece. It is unlike almost any other horror film you will run across. The closest film I could compare it to is the zombie film MAGGIE which is about a family dealing with one of their own turning. (I want to say Steven Soderbergh's CONTAGION but that film has isn’t as low key). It is both chilling and thoughtful.

How good is the film? I got yelled at for not turning off the film at work after lunch when I kept watching because I HAD to see how it came out. Yea. It’s that good. Its one of the best horror films I’ve seen in 2018 and certain to end up on one of my year end lists.

This is a must see when it plays Friday at The Blood in The Snow Film Festival.

Insha’Allah Democracy (2017) DOC NYC 2017

Mohammed Naqvi's eye opening film is what happens when after several coups and bad leadership in Pakistan the country begins to head toward general elections. Wanting to find the right candidate Naqvi begins to investigate the men running for office  including former leader General Pervez Musharraf who had lead the country after a coup in the 1990's and was later forced into exile.

This must see film is a crash course in the political situation in Pakistan. Naqvi nicely explains the politics of the country both then and now and makes you understand that there is a hell of a lot more to the country than the odd brief news story that we see on TV. Naqvi not only explains it but puts us into the middle of it via his interviews with pretty much everyone of important. Its an up close and personal look at a county none of us in America remotely understands.

Seemingly shot on the fly under difficult circumstances the film really gives you a sense of place and of history that no other documentary on Pakistan that I have seen has ever done. Watching the film I finally got a sense that I understood what it was all about.

Interestingly in an age when many Americans have become fed up with our way of selecting leaders this film can be seen as a reminder that, despite hiccups democracy actually can take hold in unexpected places and have unexpected results.

Insha’Allah Democracy plays Sunday and Tuesday at DOC NYC and is recommended. For tickets and more information go here.

Addendum:
In the week or so since I first saw he film it has grown in stature in my mind. It is a film that I can’t shake. Its inside look at Pakistan has haunted me. I cannot tell you how good and how important the film is. It is a film which that has changed how I see and think about the world, which is the highest praise I can give any film.

You must see this film.

Abu (2017)LA Film Festival

Abu is the Urdu word for father. It is also the name of filmmaker Arshad Khan’s cinematic portrait of his relationship with his father. It is a loving portrait of two men and their family whose lives went differently than they ever expected.

The film charts Khan's life growing up in Pakistan, his discovering boys, while still not considering himself gay (as he was always was told “there are no gays in Pakistan”), his going to college, moving to Canada and his clashes with his father. We also see Khan's father’s life. We see how he moved from a culturally open young man to an older restrictive older man with a deep fundamentalist belief. We watch as the two men try to remain in contact despite moving differently.

Abu is an excellent film. It’s a wonderful portrait of no only Arshad and his father but of the society that they come from. For those of us who are not from Pakistan the film beautifully explains the rules that the two men grew up operating under.

At the same time while I recognize how good the film is it never full resonated for me. I suspect that had I been Pakistani or a gay man this film would have resonated more. I can see all of the little touchstone moments intellectually but I couldn’t feel them emotionally.

Definitely worth a look when the film plays Sunday at the LA Film Festival

For tickets and more information go here

LIONHEART and TIGERS at BOSNIAN-HERZEGOVINIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2016

Friday night I went to see one program at the Bosnian Herzegovinian Film Festival in New York. The original plan was to attend the whole thing but I didn't think what weekend this was so I forgot I had conflicts. (I'm still working on getting reviews up for all of the features.)

Before the film I met up with Joe Bendel and his mother. She's a lovely woman and great fun to talk to.

Introducing the evenings program

The evenings program began with the short LIONHEART. The film is the story of a woman who took a job at  hotel thinking she would be working in the kitchen. Instead she ended up a sex worker who tried to kill herself and only got free when she agreed to marry a man who bought her freedom, though even then she ended up in an abusive relationship.

The film is a matter of fact telling of her life supplemented by stories from two officials who explain the cultural background of  why it happened and the sex trade. Its a punch in the face and as the film goes on you feel waited down by the story. Its a really good film that doesn't go for shock and awe but bowls you over with its quiet power

The short was paired with Danis Tanovic's TIGERS from 2014. Tanovich's NO MAN'S LAND won the Oscar in 2001 and rattled cages.  That his TIGERS has not been seen in the US until now suggests that its crushing power, which is directed full bore at Nestle and other makers of infant formula, is something the companies in the cross-hairs don't want seen.

TIGERS tells the story of Ayan, a stand in for whistleblower Syed Aamir Raza whose life story is pretty much what we see on screen. A film crew is attempting to ascertain how true his story is. They want to tell his story but want to know if they are going to be sued into the stone age. After debating if they can use the real company name (the real life Nestle which is seen fleetingly) they decide against it and change the name and then Ayan tells his story.

Ayan was a pharmaceutical salesman  who wasn't having luck selling locally made drugs because everyone wanted those from the Western multinationals. Seeing an ad to work for just such a multinational he talks his way into getting hired. The product is baby formula and Ayan is one of the best salesmen. Several years in he discovers that the formula is killing children. Poor parents are cutting the formula with impure water to make it go farther and its causing children to die from dehydration, a problem the company had been aware of for decades. He quits and decides to blow the whistle but the road is dangerous.

Tanovic has made a film that manages to over come some uneven performances and a couple of bumps to be a film that will rock your world.

And I mean it will rock your f-ing world.

It has been ages, since I've seen a film where when the film ended no one moved. No one spoke, No one did anything except stare at the screen shell shocked. When it was done and the lights came up every one got up and silently walked to the exit and the street. No one talked until they hit the doors to the street. Joe, his mom and I just sort of staggered to the subway

While most certainly a narrative and a messy polemic, the film is also a kind of straight on documentary. These things happened and are happening, the statement at the end that the film contains footage of dying children from when the film was shot in 2013 produced an audible creak in the theater as if the whole audience shifted in their seats in absolute horror.

It is not a lie to say that seeing TIGERS was one of the most powerful cinematic experiences of my life. It may not be conventionally one of the best films ever made but is one of the most ass kicking. It's a poke in the eye and a boot on the throat and a quiet whisper in your ear "Children are dying what are you going to do about it?"

Highly recommended

If you need to know why BHFF is one of the best kept secrets in NYC its because a film like TIGERS or any of the other films will screen, blow its audience away, and unfairly barely register on the rest of the film world in New York. Next year you all have to go to the festival- you will thank me.

EVERY LAST CHILD opens today and is worth your time.

Pakistan is one of three countries in the world left with a polio problem and it has 80% of the cases. In 2012 the Pakistani Taliban issued a ban on the vaccination program and with in two years the disease spun wildly out of control. The strain spread to the Middle East and China. We watch as aid workers deliver the vaccine while in World Health Organization headquarters deal with news of some of their men are killed and their supplies are stolen. We also watch the human cost of the disease itself.

I saw EVERY LAST CHILD last year at Doc NYC and I was mixed about it. My feelings for the film in November boiled down to two things:

First I was (and kind of still am) burnt out on films on children in Pakistan and Afghanistan. While there are a real glut of films focusing on the problems of children in the region and since I and Unseen gravitate toward independent or small scale films a good number of the films cross our screens. Some are good, some are bad and some are middle of the road. While I know these stories have to be told I still wish the same stories weren't being told and retold so often. When I saw the film the first time I was at the point of needing it to knock my socks off otherwise I wasn't going to like it.

The other problem I had with the film was that the presentation is incredibly slick. The film plays like a suspense thriller and not a documentary.  When I saw the film the first time I was wondering if what I was seeing was staged or real. The slickness and presentation turned me off. I wrote up the film and walked away, done with having to deal with it.

When the release of the film came up I was contacted by the PR people who asked me if I wanted to cover it. I said I had seen it but wasn't thrilled with it. They then asked me to try it again. I hesitated and then said yes.

Having seen the film a again I find I'm still not in love with the film, the similarity to a few other films both in the past and upcoming has me still tired of similar subjects, but at the same time the slickness didn't bother me as much. Is the thriller like presentation a detriment? I don't think so. Actually I kind of think that without it the film would end up lost in the blue somewhere.

To be one hundred percent fair on it's own terms, and away from similar films, this is a very good little film. This is a film that clearly explains whats at stake and why something needs to be done to stop the spread of a disease that should be long gone from the world.   Because of the story that the film reveals this is a very important film. If you care about the children of the world you should make an effort to give the film a shot.

The film is currently playing at the IFC Center in New York and it will play in LA starting June 12

Among The Believers (2015) Tribeca 2015

Disturbing look at the religious extremism that is being fostered in the Red Mosque in Pakistan. Shot in part inside the carefully guarded mosque the film shows us Maulana Aziz, as he prepares for a holy war not only in the country but across the world. We also see inside the madrassas, the religious schools, run by the mosque where children memorize the Koran all day.

Showing another facet to Pakistani life  like FIGHT OF THE FALCONS or EVERY LAST CHILD, this film is a punch in the gut. We see how the cause is perpetuated thanks to the teaching methods which are a form of mind control and to parents who turn their kids over to the zealots, not because they believe but simply the teaching is free and offers their kids a chance at least one good meal a day. Its a chilling thought that the need to feed your kids is turning them into mindless killers.

I was moved by the film, though having sat through the two films I mentioned above I was very aware of much of what the film has to say-but I was also deeply disturbed for while I knew what was happening, I never really understood that even the leading voice for this kind of thought refused to fully explain why he believes what he does beyond its the law. Its clear he doesn't have a good reason for it since despite the fact they are having the children in their care memorize the Koran they aren't telling them what it says- its in Arabic and they speak Urdu- a fact made plain when one of the students says he has no idea what he's memorizing.

A good many of the people in the audience of critics were so bothered by the film they sat shell shocked by what the film showed. Many people left the theater when it was done despite having had plans to see the rest of the days offerings, they simply had to get out into the daylight and a place where armed people wren't trying to suppress the masses. Those that stayed ended up in deep discussions about how this sort of extreme hate could be stopped.

A must see film for anyone who wants to know where some of the religious discord is coming from.

Song of Lahore (2015) Tribeca 2015

One of my notes made during the press screening for SONG OF LAHORE was "Films like this are the reason I get out of bed in the morning"

One of the must see films at Tribeca  SONG OF LAHORE is a glorious portrait of the  a group of musicians centered around Sachal Studios in Pakistan who are trying to keep traditional music alive in their country.

Back in 1977 when a military coup brought a pro-Islamic state leadership music was frowned upon  driving the musicians into other professions. Some continued to play but by the time that things begin to thaw the traditional way of making music was forgotten. Hoping to find an audience via CD releases the artists began to record for Sachal. However since the market for their music they tried something different and recorded some jazz infused songs including Dave Brubeck's Take Five. The BBC did a story and things got crazy and the group was invited to Lincoln Center to play with the Lincoln Center Jazz orchestra.

Wonderful film about bunch or musicians doing what they do and struggling to share it with the world, or even just their own city, will make your heart soar. Full of great characters, marvelous discussions and amazing music this is a film that will make you want to get up and dance. I think someone behind me at the press screening started to applaud during one of the performances. I'm also pretty sure that everyone in the screening room was having a good time because when I turned around at one point everyone was smiling.

The film isn't all light and fluffy music. There is a great deal of seriousness as some forces in Pakistan  seek to stop music being played. The more extreme radical elements are killing musicians and destroying instruments in order to stop it being played. Things are so bad that concerts have to be performed with heavily armed guards in attendance. Its not a happy scene and it gives you a great deal to consider.

As dark as the political climate is, its the music that shines a bright light in the darkness. Watching the men perform in Pakistan put a smile on my face  that only got bigger when we got to see them in NewYork wandering around the city and playing at Lincoln Center. I think the term is way cool.

One of the must sees at the festival.

You must see Shehzad Hameed Ahmad's FLIGHT OF THE FALCONS

I ran across Shehzad Hameed Ahmad when he asked me to take a look at his fantastic film THE PAKISTAN FOUR Its about four Muslim women who are breaking the stereotype of what they are allowed to do. One woman is a chef, another a comedian and actress, another is fencer and the last is a weightlifter. Running under an hour I really thought it could be a feature and I told Ahmad so. He said it was a possibility down the road, but for the moment he was working on a film on schooling in Pakistan for girls. I asked him to let me know when it was done. He did so and I'm thrilled he did.

FLIGHT OF THE FALCONS is the story of Sister Zeph who turned her one room home into a free school for the girls in her area of Punjab in Pakistan. The school called the Zephania Free Education offers the girls a chance to have something approximating what we would call a proper education, but also some form of vocational training as well. The school was started 17 years earlier when Sister Zeph was humiliated in school. Vowing that it should never happen to anyone else she began her own school. In addition to Sister Zeph the film follows three girls in the school and explores their lives as well.

I could wax poetic about all the great things that the film does but there is one thing above all others that it does that makes this film a must see, It simply lets people talk. It lets the girls talk, it lets, Sister Zeph talk and more importantly it lets the people around them speak. We get to hear what the girls' families think, he get to hear what the people in the village think and most importantly it lets those who don't want the girls to learn to voice their opinions.  What they say is almost shocking in it's simplicity- the girls shouldn't learn, not because its bad for them, not because it's against scripture, rather it's because they are going to be wives and mothers and will never need what they are taught so why teach them. When I heard that I was flabbergasted, that's the reason many people have for not wanting to teach the girls- they'll never use it? Really? How do they know?

Another thing that the film does is show the abuse the girls go throw. Using testimony and hidden cameras we see the abuse the girls suffer in school and on the street. In one sequence we watch as I believe it's Sister Zeph walks across a bridge and acosted by a man on the street. He doesn't know that she has been miced up for the occasion and we hear what he says to her and what her replies are. Its both funny and scary and puts what women in Pakistan have to go through into sharp focus.

After I saw the film I emailed the director and I told him that he had made one of the most important films I've seen in a while. I honestly believe that. Over the course of the films 47 minutes we see and more importantly we come to understand what it's like to be a girl or a woman in Pakistan. We get to see, really see what these people are going through in a way that the sound bite news stories on American TV never show us.  Even just by running the entire length of a 60 Minutes episode we see way more than we would ever see otherwise if this were produced my an American TV organization.

This is a brilliant film and it will knock your socks off.- I knocked mine off and I did what I do when I see something that impressed the hell out of me, I started to email the link to the film to my friends. I then sat down and started to write the film up so that you could see this film.

 Forget good or bad, this film is beyond that. What director Shehzad Hameed Ahmad has done with FLIGHT OF THE FALCONS is make a film that is vital to anyone who wants to understand what it's like for women not only in Pakistan but in other parts of the world.  You need to see this film because you need to understand what you think you do, but you probably don't really. I thought I did but I found out I was wrong.

Forgive me, words fail me. I can't do the film justice you simply have to see it for yourself.

This film was produced for News Chanel Asia and has run a half dozen times already. Hopefully it will run ten or twenty or a hundred times more than that. I also hope that it will be shown elsewhere  because this is a really important film as far as showing us what we think we know but really don't.

If you haven't clicked on one of the other thinks to the film above it can viewed by going here

The Pakistan Four (2014)

"Only a fighter who rides the horse in a battle field has a chance of falling, But how will those cowards fall who walk on their knees" - Azeem Dehalvi.

Shehzad Hameed Ahmad's excellent portrait of four Pakastani women in America who are taking non-traditional paths through life:

Hareem Ahmad is a world class fencing champion.
Fatima Ali is an award winning chef who won the TV series Chopped
Kulsoom Abdah is a weightlifter
Nadia Manzoor is a writer/performer and comic

The film examines the battles that the women have had in order to reach their goals in the world while struggling to remain connected to their dreams and traditions. The film is kind of a riff on a statement that Nadia makes about how Pakistani parents wonder how and why their children end up with Western ideas when they come to the West to live. The paths all four women have chosen are decidedly non-traditional as far as being from Pakistan is concerned.

This short film (it runs 37 minutes) is a real treat. Throwing light on a series of struggles that most people out side of a Pakistani family would never know about, this film is a celebration of how these woman are finding a path to their own happiness by perusing their dreams while doing things that their traditions say they shouldn't. In their ways they are opening the door for not only other Pakistani women but any women who are in a culture that has similar traditions about a woman's place.

I know I keep using the word tradition, but that is what the film is about, finding a bridge between tradition and the modern world. Its a film that reveals bridges can be built if one is willing to to try.

Ahmad was blessed by finding four such wonderful and wonderfully articulate women to state the case that there is more to life then just following the traditional path of marriage and motherhood. Here we have four well educated and well spoken women who speak openly about the struggles of straddling both worlds.

Nadia is the most vocal of the women and it's through her theater piece that we come to understand what life for many Pakistani women is like. As she says at one point 5000 girls a year are killed for things as seemingly trivial as talking on the phone. The fact that she and her sisters are trying to do more makes them very courageous individuals. That may sound crazy to many of you reading this but understand that it's true, doing something that might be considered to shame a family can have dire consequences.

This film shows that what these women are doing is not something to feel ashamed of, but something to celebrate. They are showing not only what women are really capable of, but also how the blending of their traditions and Western ideas can create something marvelously unexpected.

If I must find fault with the film it's in that it's only 37 minutes long. Ahmad has found four wonderful subjects and the fact that we are not given more time with them is a real shame. You will forgive me if I say that I wish that the film could some how be lengthened into a full fledged feature, not only so that we may see more of these women, but because a feature should give the film more of a life. This is a film that needs to go out and be seen by as many women as possible, not just Pakistani, but all women, since the struggles of these women to do more and be more there is a possibility that others may follow in their footsteps and do things that are as equally wondrous.

A big thank you to director Shehzad Hameed Ahmad for sending this great film my way.

The film won the Best Documentary award at the Indiana Film Festival.

It  will be available shortly on I-Tunes (I'll post a link when that happens)

Shehzad Hameed Ahmad's next documentary is a film is for Channel News Asia. It concerns a Pakistani school teacher and four of her students in a remote village of Punjab, Pakistan Its aim is to highlight the issues associated with girls education in the country and bring to light, the heroes fighting for the future generations of the country.

SAIFF 2014: Dukhtar (2014)

Pakistan's entry for the Oscars is a treat for anyone getting it to see it at The South Asian International Film Festival this evening. I've seen a good number of the Oscar hopefuls and this is only the second one that deserves to be considered for the award. Its one of the rarest of the rare a touching drama that is also a kick ass thriller. This may very well be the best film at SAIFF and it may very well end up on my best of 2014 list as well.

The film is set in motion when a father makes a deal to seal peace with another tribe by giving the hand of his daughter in marriage to another tribal leader. This doesn't sit well with the girl's mother who was given in marriage when she was fifteen, especially since the groom is many decades older. Grabbing her daughter on her wedding day she bolts out of the village in a desperate run for her family o the other side of the country.  Things take a possible hopeful turn when they fall in with a truck driver named Sohail which means God Protects.

Working on several levels the mixing of drama and action films allows the film to do several things that shouldn't work. First it heightens the the tension and the sense of drama in ways that shouldn't work. The sense of good and bad and right and wrong are made very black and white even though we can see the grays. We know who's good and bad but we also see the levels of emotion and thoughts with in them.

The mixing also allows corners to be cut. We can jump to conclusions and not mind because what under normal circumstances could have been a talky film about child marriage and the rights of women are now in a chase frame work where we don't need long explanations and short hand notes are completely fine with the audience. The who's and the whats can be reduced to bullet points because there is no time for long winded discussion.

Helping everything is gorgeous visual style and driving score that makes everything move like the wind and fear for our heroines.

This is a great great film...

....and its so good looking you'll want to see this on the BIG screen when it plays tonight.

An absolute must see.

For tickets and more information go to the films festival web page

A few words on Every Last Child (2014) DOC NYC 2014

Pakistan is one of three countries in the world left with a polio problem and it has 80% of the cases. In 2012 the Pakistani Taliban issued a ban on the vaccination program and with in two years the disease spun wildly out of control. The strain spread to the Middle East and China. We watch as aid workers deliver the vaccine while in World Health Organization headquarters deal with news of some of their men are killed and their supplies are stolen. How can they save the children? We also watch the human cost of the disease itself.

I'm mixed on the film.

This is  an important subject that has been pumped up to action thriller status thanks to a booming intrusive music score. Its so intrusive I kept waiting for Jason Bourne to come crashing in and kick the ass of the Taliban. It opens with a military operation to protect the people giving vaccines to the children of Pakistan making you wonder if you've wandered into the right theater. I turned off almost instantly because the presentation is so incredibly slick.

That's not the reaction you want to have from a film.

Don't get me wrong the material here is really good. The information it relates is vitally important, Its just that the way it's presented makes it all seem less than it it is because it's so pumped up. If it wasn't like an action thriller this would be a truly great documentary instead of just a good one.

The film World Premieres Friday night at DOC NYC. For more information on the film go to it's festival page here.

Good Morning Karachi (2013) South Asian International Film Festival

I'm going to be completely honest and up front with my feelings for this film and say that despite my best efforts this film never really connected with me  I tried I really did but despite two passes through the film any connection remained just out of reach.

The film tells the story of a marriageable young woman named Rafina who is trying to find her way in the world. She is living with her mother and trying to figure out what to do. She is having a chaste relationship with a young man down the hall who has traditional values and would rather not have Rafina out and about except with him. When Rafina convinces her mother to let her get a job at an advertising agency, but what was supposed to be simply serving tea, turns into a modeling job with her face plastered across billboards. What will be her course.

The problem for me is that I never related to the film. Part of it is I am the wrong sex  to connect with the struggles of young woman living half a world away. A larger part of it is that the script walks a fine line between being a real life story and a polemic angling for change in the Muslim world. Its a bit too much a plea for women's rights.

This isn't to say that the film is bad, it's not. The film has some great performances that come together to create some great characters and moments. As I said above I saw the film twice and if I didn't like the film I never would have done that. The problem is that the great moments, and the film is full of them, get lost lost behind the plea to allow women to be modern. The film is worth seeing when it plays at NYIT Auditorium as part of the South Asian International Film Festival, I'm just not sure if you'll love it or be like me and just like it.

Anima State (2013) South Asian International Film Festival

The second film from Hammad Khan is making it's World Premiere tomorrow at the South Asian International Film Festival and I suspect that much like his first film cages will be rattled and the film will end up causing a firestorm.

The film follows a man whose head is wrapped in bandages. He is driven to a park where he kills five people.He then drives off in the cab where he is let off on the side of a road. He meets a police officer and asks to be arrested. When the cop refuses to do so, despite being  willing to take the strangers money he too is killed. From there the film becomes a journey as the man has a series of encounters with people before the it changes into something else.

Opening with an explanation of the title, the film is essentially a look inward,nominally of the main character but it is in reality a meditation on the state of affairs in Pakistan. Actually the issues raised a work on a larger level and echo to the state of affairs in many countries and places across the globe. I know that watching the film many of the points about corruption, apathy and relationships hit home.

I know if you read the description of the film it will seem as if its a serial killer film or a thriller, but the film isn't operating in those genres even if it co-ops some of those motifs ( at least for a while). Khan is not making a conventional film but instead is making a film the seriously engages your brain. This is social commentary meets art film meets satire mixed with humor. I sat down to watch the film, figuring based on a one line description, I was in for a thriller. I got something else instead.

This is a film with something to say, and it manages to do what most similar films never do and that is be engaging on it's own terms. While I can wax poetic about the film for any number of reasons, probably the best thing I can say is that I very much want to see the film again. This isn't just a good (fill in the blank) film, rather its a good film period with out a qualifier. Even if you chop away the commentary I'd still like the film

This is a film that needs to be seen, not just by the South Asian film audience, but people everywhere. The problems with the world, the desire to "kill" people and their different thoughts is universal. This film is a poke in the eye not only of Pakistan but society in general.

Treasures like this are not only the reason I go to film festivals but also the movies in general. Its rare that we get a film that can walk the line between genres and shake them up and when we get one we must spread the word. Consider the word spread, and get down the the SVA Theater tomorrow.

Jinnah (1997)

Christopher Lee considers it his best role.

The film was made under threats of all sorts (People tried to have Christopher Lee arrested and deported in Pakistan during filming).

The film has never, to my knowledge, gotten a US release, and it's release elsewhere in the world seems to have been spotty. As for a DVD release, well the UK DVD appears to be out of print and as for any other version it's apparently not readily available.

My viewing of the film came after many years of searching. I had heard of the film from Christopher Lee's bio, but could never find it. Only when I read that Leonard Maltin called it a good film did I start looking again, and only managed to get a copy after a couple of well placed phone calls.

The film tells the story of the Muhammad Ali Jinnah, one of the driving forces for the independence of India and the creation of Pakistan. It's told in a kind of mystical flashback, with Jinnah on his death bed talking to an angel who is to decide where he is to go. With Jinnah's life file lost in cyberspace (they send ill working computers back in time from the future) Jinnah is forced to wander back through his life.

It's not as dumb as it sounds, and other than the first awkward moments in the afterlife the gambit works since it allows us to both see what happened and to allow both a compression of some events and a commentary on others.

The film is an odd mix of emotions, much the way Jinnah has always seemed to me. There is a straightforwardness to it all an almost coldness to how Jinnah carries and conducts himself. And yet there are times when there is deep emotion, The scenes with Jinnah's wife, the scenes of regret and the finale where Jinnah speaks with a little girl on the road all have a kick in them. Sure there is a brave front but there is a depth of feeling underneath.

The performances are quite good.

Christopher Lee is excellent as Jinnah. I can see why he really likes the role. Here is role where he gets to really act. Sure he is rigid and strict, but at the same time he is seething with emotion. All one need to is watch his eyes and you can see the changing emotions filter by. Its a stunning performance and while it probably would never get him an Oscar, it is a performance that is among Lee's best. (For the record I love Lee's gay biker in the film Serial)

Is this one of the best films ever?

No. But it is a damn fine one. How the hell this film has ended up lost to the ages is beyond me. I kind of can believe the talk of the fear of violent protests if the film was shown, but at the same time the film is really so inoffensive as to make me wonder who would be upset by the film.

Definitely a film to keep an eye out for. I have no idea if you'll ever see it, but if you do, be prepared for a great performance by Christopher Lee, it will shake up what you think he can do, especially if you only know him from his genre films.