Entertainment News

A Pakistani Film Selected for Virtual Palm Springs ShortFest 2020

Pakistani short film Stray Dogs Come Out at Night, has been selected for 26th edition of Palm Springs ShortFest 2020, that will be held virtually this year from June 16-22. The film will be screened alongside 332 short films and has also been nominated in two categories as part of the festival.

“It feels like the whole world is burning [right now], and to get the good news is extremely rare. I’m so grateful that the Palm Springs team chose to program us. The festival programmer even called us one of the highlights of this year’s edition!” said writer and director Hamza Bangash.

The film originally titled in Punjabi, Awara Kuttey Rataan Nu Nikal Dey, has been nominated for Best Live Action Short and Vimeo Staff Pick Award at the event.

As per Bangash, the short film starring budding artist Mohammed Ali Hashmi and Adnan Shah Tipu ‘captures the vastness of the urban sprawl’ and tells ‘a story of desperation’.

Based on the life of a masseur Iqbal (Hashmi) who shares a one-bedroom apartment with his uncle (Tipu) is a Punjabi language film for which the director had a hard time finding a cast. The catch in the plot is Iqbal’s trying to cope with his HIV positive diagnosis just as he’s trying adjusting to migrant life in Karachi.

Bangash says the difficulty was to find the main lead for a film that touches taboo and sensitive topics of STD, toxic masculinity, and despair in loneliness.

“We must have reached out to dozens of actors, and we got really lucky with both Mohammad Ali Hashmi and Adnan Shah Tipu,” Bangash said of the two actors who also happen to be real-life uncle and nephew.

Aisha Arshad

Recent Posts

  • Latest News

KSE-100 index hits new all-time high of 67,142 points

The KSE-100 index hits a new all-time high of 67,142 points on Thursday. The Pakistan…

5 hours ago
  • Latest News

Magnitude 5.3 earthquake jolts northern areas of Pakistan

A magnitude 5,3 earthquake jolted northern areas of Pakistan on Thursday at around 4 pm.…

5 hours ago
  • Latest News

X Remains Restricted in Pakistan After 80 Days

X, formerly Twitter remains suspended across Pakistan after 80 days. The microblogging platform was blocked…

5 hours ago
  • Latest News

Beijing asserts attempts to sabotage China-Pakistan cooperation will not succeed

Beijing in a statement asserted that attempts to sabotage China-Pakistan cooperation will not succeed and…

16 hours ago
  • Travel and Tours

Fly Jinnah inaugurates second international flight connecting Lahore and Sharjah

Fly Jinnah, Pakistan’s low-cost carrier, on March 27, celebrated the inaugural flight of its second…

20 hours ago
  • Drama Reviews

Khaie Last Episode Review: Its too late for Chanaar to realize that he has been victim of revenge game all the time

Khaie, the story penned by Saqlain Abbas finally concluded with its 29th episode. It was…

22 hours ago