Jawad Sharif Films: Making Films of Impact to Empower Social Change One Film at a Time
Jawad Sharif Films has established itself as a reputed documentary film production company in Pakistan, known for its commitment to telling stories with social impact. Since 2014, Jawad Sharif, as its founder has spearheaded projects that explore untold stories, captivating audiences worldwide with subject-driven and visually compelling narratives.
From Passion to Social Change: International Frontiers
Having successfully established a film production company based in Islamabad, Jawad started as an independent filmmaker. He came into the limelight as a filmmaker with the release of K2 and The Invisible Footmen (2014). Collaborating with American filmmaker Iara Lee, Jawad Sharif worked as the editor and cinematographer of the documentary film.
The film brings to screen the lives of the porters who facilitate mountaineers at the K2 basecamp and as Nepalese Sherpas at the Mount Everest basecamp in Nepal. The film highlights Jawad’s signature cinema verité style to documentary filmmaking. Other than the sheer challenge of filming at the K2 base camp, the film provides rare insights into the lives and cultures of the local porters, who perform the thankless task of being beasts of burden risking their lives for nominal compensation.
The film also features Hassan Sadpara, a high-altitude porter and climber. He is the first-ever Pakistani to scale six eight-thousand-meter peaks, including the world’s highest peak Mount Everest. Through his story, the world found out for the first time about the struggles of the porters in Pakistan. The film brought well-deserved recognition to Hassan Sadpara for his achievements in mountaineering. He was awarded a prize by the Prime Minister of Pakistan in 2015. In 2008, the Government of Pakistan awarded the renowned mountaineer the President’s Pride of Performance Award.
K2 and the Invisible Footmen has been screened at more than 100 international film festivals and has won more than 36 international awards at prestigious film festivals including the Best Documentary Feature award at Jaipur, Salento, and Rio Mountain Film Festival.
Earlier Jawad also directed a short film Beyond the Heights (2014), which features Samina Baig as the first Pakistani woman mountaineer to have climbed Mount Everest. Jawad has also written and directed a short documentary featuring Nobel laureate and girls’ education activist Malala Yousafzai.
Preserving the Cultural Heritage of Pakistan: Chronicles of Indigenous Folk Artists of Pakistan
Indus Blues (2018), Jawad’s debut feature documentary film marked a significant milestone in his career as a director. The film tells the story of the plight of the indigenous folk musicians and craftsmen while reminding the world what it is about to lose as their ancient art form becomes endangered in an intolerant society. The visually striking film was shot across Pakistan, from Gilgit-Baltistan in the Karakoram Mountains to the Makran Coast in Balochistan. The film was shot in 15 cities across each province and territory of Pakistan, documenting its fading indigenous folk instruments and perhaps their last recorded performances.
Faqeer Zulfiqar, one of the many folk artists featured in Indus Blues, is the only musician in Pakistan who plays Boreendo, a 5000-year-old clay musical instrument. Faqeer Zulfiqar received the Pride of Performance award from the government of Pakistan in 2020. Indus Blues successfully helped carry the voice of folk artists to the policymakers in Pakistan. As a result, the local government introduced music classes, and scholarships for the folk and classical musicians, in the Punjab Institute of Language, Art & Culture. Such is the power of an impactful documentary film!
The film has won awards and accolades in the international film festival circuit including the Grand Jury Prize for Crystal Award at Guam International Film Festival, United States, Best Documentary Feature Award at South Film and Arts Academy Festival Chile, Best Documentary Feature Award, and Best Cinematography Award at Jaipur IFF India, 2019, Winner Gold Award at Spotlight Doc Awards. The film has also been screened in several prestigious international film festivals.
Indus Blues as it traverses through the musical traditions and cultures along the Indus and illustrates how it changes and expands along its course. The film also highlights the deterioration of nature along the banks of the Indus. Known for taking up social and environmental issues, Jawad founded Climate Kahani, an initiative under the banner of his film production house in Islamabad. Climate Kahani serves as a digital communication and awareness platform to demystify climate change for a broad audience across Pakistan.
Addressing the Climate Change Emergency
Natari, released in 2021, is the first film produced under this initiative. Natari is a Sindhi language word that means ‘anchor’. The film tells the story of the conflict caused by climate migration and its impact on local communities and families such as that of fisherman and political activist Ayoub Sehto in the Indus Delta region. Natari was also part of the official selection of the Climate Crisis Film Festival 2021, which was held in line with the COP26 in Glasgow, UK.
Lahore once known for its gardens and historical sites has been in the grip of smog; it has been declared the most polluted city in the world for its worst air quality. The city, the health experts say, is not fit to live in. Smog has disrupted life and everyone has felt its impact.
To highlight the impact of climate change and smog as one of its harmful outcomes, living up to the expectations as a documentary production house known for pushing traditional boundaries, Jawad Sharif Films came up with the unique idea of a documentary film called The Color of Smog in 2021. In the documentary film, sixteen artists take on the task of expressing the impact of climate change in general and smog in particular through their artwork. An exhibition named The Smog Show preceded the film. The exhibition was curated by Irfan Gul Dahri and showcased the artwork in the Zahoor-ul-Akhlaq Gallery, National College of Arts, Lahore.
Jawad Sharif Films, an award-winning production house in Islamabad, strives to bring stories to the screen that inspire social change and justice. The Losing Side (2022), the recent documentary film directed by Jawad, is about four women who decide to take the road less traveled. After being forced to convert and marry, they decide to raise their voice against this injustice. The Losing Side has won the award for Best Human Rights Film at the Cannes World Film Festival.
Giving Voice to the voiceless: Reaching out to the communities of Pakistan
An upcoming film, Bhashaili, the Bangla word for Adrift explores the everyday stories of Pakistani Bengalis living in Karachi, including their loves, losses and the challenges they face around citizenship. In Bhashaili – Adrift we delve into the daily narratives and story of young and old Pakistani Bengalis. As they pursue their dreams, find love, champion justice, and confront despair resulting from their lack of recognition in Pakistan.
With a range of impactful projects in the pipeline, Jawad Sharif is determined to bring often-overlooked issues to the mainstream media. Jawad Sharif Films, his documentary production house in Islamabad, aims to tell inspiring and poignant human stories from Pakistan.
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