On Sunday, the 7th Women International Film Festival in Islamabad came to an end after screening movies from Argentina, Belgium, Croatia, France, Germany, Iran, Italy, Turkey, the UK, and the US, among other nations.
18 short films were screened throughout the course of the two days of the festival, including two produced by Pakistani directors, “Baira Gharakh” by renowned director Mehreen Jabbar and “Awaaz” by Halimah Tariq.
The third Pakistani entry, “My Mother’s Daughter,” directed by Ahmen Khawaja and Mariam Khan, was sadly denied permission to screen in the festival due of its contentious themes of child marriage and the story of a Christian girl’s forced conversion.
The 7th Women International Film Festival’s founder, Madeeha Raza, expressed her disappointment over the censor board’s decision to forbid the Pakistani film “My Mother’s Daughter,” calling it “very unfortunate” that the festival would be deterred from showcasing critically important voices in Pakistan. Raza bemoaned the fact that although the festival could show films from other nations, it was unable to display one of its own.
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