Sabiha Sumar (born 29 September 1961) is a
Pakistani filmmaker and producer. She is best known for her independent documentary films. Her first feature-length film was ''
Khamosh Pani
''Khamosh Pani'' ( Punjabi: (Shahmukhi), ਖ਼ਾਮੋਸ਼ ਪਾਨੀ (Gurmukhi); ''Silent Waters'') is a 2003 Indo-Pakistani film about a widowed mother and her young son living in a Punjabi village as it undergoes radical changes duri ...
(Silent Waters)'', released in 2003. She is known for exploring themes of gender, religion, patriarchy and fundamentalism in Pakistan.
She, along with
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and
Samar Minallah
Samar Minallah ( ur, ALA-LC: ) is a documentary filmmaker, and human rights activist from Pakistan.
Career
Samar Minallah was born in Haripur District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, in Pakistan. As a filmmaker she has created projects targ ...
, are some of the Pakistani women
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independe ...
documentary filmmakers to have screened their work outside of Pakistan.
Early life
Sumar was born in
Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former ...
in 1961. Her parents were originally from
Bombay
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the '' de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the sec ...
(now Mumbai) and moved to Karachi during partition. When Sumar was growing up, her parents hosted many social gatherings that included
Sufi poetry
Sufi literature consists of works in various languages that express and advocate the ideas of Sufism.
Sufism had an important influence on medieval literature, especially poetry, that was written in Arabic, New Persian, Persian, Turkic languages ...
, music and liquor.
She attended
Karachi Grammar School.
Sumar studied
Persian Literature
Persian literature ( fa, ادبیات فارسی, Adabiyâte fârsi, ) comprises oral compositions and written texts in the Persian language and is one of the world's oldest literatures. It spans over two-and-a-half millennia. Its sources h ...
at the University of Karachi,
followed by Filmmaking and Political Science at
Sarah Lawrence College
Sarah Lawrence College is a private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York. The college models its approach to education after the Oxford/Cambridge system of one-on-one student-faculty tutorials. Sarah Lawrence scholarship, particularly i ...
in New York from 1980–83. She completed her post-graduate degree from
Cambridge University
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
, England in International Relations.
Career
Sabiha Sumar has earned acclaim for her independent films, which deal with political and social issues such as the effects of
religious fundamentalism
Fundamentalism is a tendency among certain groups and individuals that is characterized by the application of a strict literal interpretation to scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, along with a strong belief in the importance of distinguishin ...
on society, and especially on women. Sumar's main interest has been on addressing primarily Pakistani women's place in the world and how different aspects of society have affected them over the past several decades. Sumar's first documentary, ''Who Will Cast the First Stone,'' deals with the state of three women in prison in Pakistan under the Hudood Ordinances.
It won the
Golden Gate Award at the
San Francisco Film Festival
The San Francisco International Film Festival (abbreviated as SFIFF), organized by the San Francisco Film Society, is held each spring for two weeks, presenting around 200 films from over 50 countries. The festival highlights current trends in i ...
in 1998. The film led to the quashing of death-by-stoning sentence for Shahida Parveen, who was accused of adultery. In 1992 Sumar founded Vidhi Films. Her documentary films include ''Don't Ask Why'' (1999), ''For a Place Under the Heavens'' (2003), ''On the roofs of Delhi'' (2007), and ''Dinner with the President: A Nation's Journey'' (2007). Her film, ''Suicide'' ''Warriors'', is about women in the Tamil Liberation Army. For ''a Place Under the Heavens'' addressed issues of religion, history and phallocentrism and gender.
''For a Place Under the Heavens'' kicked off a critical debate on women wearing the
hijab in the Muslim World. In 2013, her latest feature film ''
Good Morning Karachi'' was released. Her films have circulated internationally through film festivals, American universities, women’s organizations and human rights organizations. Sumar’s films have not been widely screened in Pakistan due to its content.
''Don’t Ask Why'' aired on a German-French channel. Sumar produced
Oscar
Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to:
People
* Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms.
* Oscar (Irish mythology), ...
-winning documentary film ''
Saving Face''.
Her first feature film is ''
Khamosh Pani
''Khamosh Pani'' ( Punjabi: (Shahmukhi), ਖ਼ਾਮੋਸ਼ ਪਾਨੀ (Gurmukhi); ''Silent Waters'') is a 2003 Indo-Pakistani film about a widowed mother and her young son living in a Punjabi village as it undergoes radical changes duri ...
(Silent Waters).'' It first aired in 2003. ''Khamosh Pani'' is a fictional film that looks at religion, gender, honour killings, assault, trauma and colonialism in the wake of partition. It depicts the trauma of partition through a woman’s point of view. Sumar links the violent aftermath of partition to the violence of
Zia-ul-Haq’s
Islamization
Islamization, Islamicization, or Islamification ( ar, أسلمة, translit=aslamāh), refers to the process through which a society shifts towards the religion of Islam and becomes largely Muslim. Societal Islamization has historically occurre ...
in 1979. The latter is a theme she explores in her other work as well, namely ''For a Place Under the Heavens.''
Sumar continues in the tradition of
Partition cinema, among the likes of
Deepa Mehta, Kamal Hasan, and Chadraprakash Dwivdei.
''Khamosh Pani'' is one of the first films to offer a perspective on partition cinema from a Muslim lens. ''Khamosh Pani'' was initially supposed to be a documentary film. When Sumar was researching for the film, she did not want to make her subjects relive trauma. The film is a fictional narrative that looks at the necessity of silence in face of healing from trauma.
Sumar received funding for ''Khamosh Pani'' from a number of international sources, including France, Switzerland, Germany, and Sweden. Most of the film was shot in Pakistan.
''Khamosh Pani'' won fourteen international awards. It won Best Screenplay at the third
KaraFilm Festival in 2003. Sumar won the
Golden Leopard
The Golden Leopard () is the top prize at the Locarno International Film Festival, an international film festival held annually in Locarno, Switzerland since 1946. Directors in the process of getting an international reputation are allowed to ...
for Best Film at the
Locarno International Film Festival
The Locarno Film Festival is an annual film festival, held every August in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narrative, documentary, ...
. She also won the Audience Award and Silver Montgolfiere at the
Nantes Three Continents Festival
The Festival des 3 Continents is an annual film festival held since 1979 in Nantes, France, and is devoted to the cinemas of Asia, and Africa and Latin America. It was founded by Philippe and Alain Jalladeau.[Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human ...]
.
Sumar faced difficulty finding places to screen the film in Pakistan due to its controversial themes. Sumar organised forty-one free screenings of the film across Pakistan.
The film sparked a controversy regarding the main character’s suicide after its screening at the
Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles The Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) is an annual film festival held in Los Angeles, California. Established by Christina Marouda in 2003, as a nonprofit organization devoted to paving the way for a greater appreciation of Indian cinema .
Personal life
She has one daughter, Dhiya, who accompanied Sumar in ''For a Place Under the Heavens''. Sumar established the Centre for Social Science Research in Karachi.
Filmography
*
Awards and nominations
References
External links
*
Profile at vidhifilms.com''Women of Pakistan'' featureVideo Interview of Sabiha Sumar*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sumar, Sabiha
1961 births
Pakistani women film directors
Pakistani documentary filmmakers
Urdu film producers
Alumni of Wolfson College, Cambridge
Sarah Lawrence College alumni
Living people
Film directors from Karachi
Women documentary filmmakers