REPORT
Anjum Shahzad's Mah-eMir to be Pakistan's
submission for Oscars 2017
T
he Pakistani Academy Selection Committee has
selected Mah-e-Mir to be submitted for Oscar consideration in the 'Foreign Language Film Award’
category at the 89th Academy Awards. Mah-e-Mir, directed by Anjum Shahzad and written by Sarmad Sehbai, chronicles the life of a young anarchist poet (Fahad
Mustafa) who denounces tradition, goes through the
sufferings of love, separation and poverty, which drives
him into madness, where he discovers the 18th century
poet Mir Taqi Mir. In his poetic journey, he embodies
the intense love, passion and creative madness of the
poet. The film features Fahad Mustafa, Iman Ali, Sanam
Saeed, Alyy Khan and Manzar Sehbai.The movie was
selected by way of a secret ballot and was the overwhelming film of choice of the Committee members. As
per standard practice, films selected by each individual
country's Academy selection committee are submitted to the Academy for screening, shortlisting and voting with official Oscar nominees announced at a later
date. The Pakistani Academy Selection Committee was
chaired by two-time Academy Award and Emmy winning
documentary filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy and
included Iram Parveen Bilal as the charge d’affaires,
Zeba Bakhtiar, Adnan Siddiqui, Hasan Zaidi, Sheema
Kermani, Sarmad Khoosat, Jamshed Mahmood Raza,
Jamil Dehlavi and Adnan Sarwar. Speaking about the
selection of Mah-e-Mir, Iram shared, "After decades of
neglect, it is a matter of great pride that the Pakistani
film industry has achieved so much in such brief time
and speaks volumes for the inherent artistic talent of
our people." "I wish the makers of Mah-e-Mir the best of
luck in their journey through the shortlisting process and
thank them for their contribution to Pakistani cinema."
In 2013, the Pakistani Academy Selection Committee
selected Zinda Bhaag as the first Pakistani film in over
fifty years to be submitted for Oscar consideration in the
'Foreign Language Film Award’ category, followed by
Dukhtar in 2014 and Moor in 2015.
13 | BOOM