Famous Pakistani filmmaker Seemab Gul’s short film Sandstorm (Mulaqat) has been selected for the Oscars for short-film categories.
Seemab Gul’s short film won at two Academy Award qualifying festivals HollyShorts and Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival in August 2022. The special feature of this festival is that its top 3 position holders are automatically included in the Oscar race, which is the reason why along with ‘Best Live Action Award’, Pakistani film has also been included in the race of ‘Oscar Awards’.
Abdulaziz Merchant, the producer of the film, Abdul Aziz Merchant, announced this good news to the fans and said “Mulaqat, directed by Seemab Gul, won at two Academy Award qualifying festivals HollyShorts and Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival in August 2022 which coincidentally is also the month we celebrate the 75th Independence Day of Pakistan,” one of the film’s producers, Abid Aziz Merchant, announced in an Instagram post on Monday.
The film was released on 13 April 2020 and it featured Hamza Mushtaq, Parizae Fatima, Ayesha Shoaib Ahmed, and Nabila Khan in the leading roles.
The film is based on the true story of an Egyptian girl named Ghadeer Ahmed, whose life changes after she shares a sensational dance video with her virtual boyfriend, as he watches her video. After that, he starts blackmailing her to meet him in person.
