Azmaish: A Journey Through the Subcontinent (2017)

Directed by

Sabiha Sumar

Genre

documentary film

Country

Pakistan

Runtime

1h 25m

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

Two women travel across India and Pakistan to explore the social and political ties between the countries. They meet people from different backgrounds and talk about shared history and current tensions.

thoughtfulpersonalobservationalcontemplativegroundedwarmbittersweetconversational

What happens

Azmaish: A Journey Through the Subcontinent, alternatively known as Azmaish: Trials of Life is a 2017 independent documentary film directed by Sabiha Sumar. A Pakistani-Indian co-production, it was produced by Sathananthan Sachithanandam of the Vidhi Films, and follows Sumar and Kalki Koechlin's journey through various parts of India and Pakistan, and their exploration of the relations between the two countries and their contemporary political and sociocultural scenarios. Sumar wanted to make a film on the changing sociocultural situation of the subcontinent since 2013. Her initial idea was selected for European Broadcasting Union's 2015 Eurovision Documentary Group Meeting. The film attracted further investors in form of European television networks and pre-production work began in January 2016 when Koechlin visited Pakistan, having been invited by Sumar to work on the project. Filming for Azmaish was done in various parts of India and Pakistan in separate schedules, with Claire Pijman, Peter Brugman, Asad Faruqi, and Mo Azmi working as the directors of photography. The film was stalled for a brief period in 2016 as the producers faced financial problems during post-production. Sumar organised two separate crowdfunding campaigns to raise money for the film's production budget, which was estimated at US$240,000. Azmaish was edited by Martin Hoffmann and its final cut ran for a total of 85 minutes. The film's music and background score was composed by Aamir Zaki. Azmaish had its world premiere on 9 August 2017 at the Locarno Festival in Switzerland. It was also screened at other such film festivals as the Toronto International Film Festival and the BFI London. The production received generally favourable reviews from film critics and the festival audience. Azmaish was released under the label of Vidhi Films; it was made available in DVD format in May 2018 and released on the website of the non-profit organisation Women Make Movies. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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