Sabiha Sumar

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 (Silent Waters), released in 2003. She is known for exploring themes of gender, religion, patriarchy and fundamentalism in Pakistan.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref>

She, along with Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Samar Minallah, are some of the Pakistani women independent documentary filmmakers to have screened their work outside of Pakistan.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Early life

Sumar was born in Karachi in 1961. Her parents were originally from Bombay (now Mumbai) and moved to Karachi during partition. When Sumar was growing up, her parents hosted many social gatherings that included Sufi poetry, music and liquor.<ref name=":1" /> She attended Karachi Grammar School.<ref name=":4">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref>

Sumar studied Persian Literature at the University of Karachi,<ref name=":4" /> followed by Filmmaking and Political Science at Sarah Lawrence College in New York from 1980–83. She completed her post-graduate degree from Cambridge University, England in International Relations.<ref name=":1" />

Career

Sabiha Sumar has earned acclaim for her independent films, which deal with political and social issues such as the effects of religious fundamentalism 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.<ref name=":4" /> It won the Golden Gate Award at the San Francisco Film Festival 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.<ref name=":0" /> 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.<ref name=":1" /> Don’t Ask Why aired on a German-French channel.Template:Fact Sumar produced Oscar-winning documentary film Saving Face.Template:Fact

Her first feature film is Khamosh Pani (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 in 1979.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The latter is a theme she explores in her other work as well, namely For a Place Under the Heavens.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite journal</ref> Sumar continues in the tradition of Partition cinema, among the likes of Deepa Mehta, Kamal Hasan, and Chadraprakash Dwivdei.<ref name=":0" /> 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.<ref name=":2" /> 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.<ref name=":3">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":2" /> Khamosh Pani won fourteen international awards. It won Best Screenplay at the third KaraFilm Festival in 2003. Sumar won the Golden Leopard for Best Film at the Locarno International Film Festival. She also won the Audience Award and Silver Montgolfiere at the Nantes Three Continents Festival. Khamosh Pani is a First Run title endorsed by the Human Rights Watch.<ref name=":3" /> 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.<ref name=":2" /> The film sparked a controversy regarding the main character’s suicide after its screening at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles.<ref name=":3" />

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.<ref name=":1" />

Filmography

Year	Title	Notes
1988	Who Will Cast the First Stone?
1989	Custodians of the Coast
1994	Of Mothers, Mice and Saints
1996	Suicide Warriors
1999	Don't Ask Why
2003	For a Place Under the Heavens
2003	Khamosh Pani
2007	On the Roofs of Delhi
2007	Dinner with the President: A Nation's Journey
2013	Good Morning Karachi
2014	Lifelines: The Last Drop
2015	Khuda Dekh Raha Hai	TV series
2017	Azmaish: A Journey Through the Subcontinent

== Awards and nominations<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> ==

Year	Festival/Ceremony	Award	Work	Result
1988	San Francisco Film Festival	Golden Gate Award	Who Will Cast the First Stone	Won
2003	Locarno International Film Festival	Golden Leopard for Best Film	Khamosh Pani	Won
		Prize of the Ecumenical Jury
		Don Quixote Award		Special mention
		Youth Jury Award
	Nantes Three Continents Festival	Silver Montgolfiere		Won
		Audience Award
		Golden Montgolfiere		Nominated
	Kerala International Film Festival	Golden Crow Pheasant		Nominated
2008	Sundance Film Festival	Grand Prize Jury	Dinner With the President: A Nation's Journey	Nominated
2016<ref>"http://www.trendinginsocial.com/nominations-15th-lux-style-awards-2016-unveiled/"</ref>	15th Lux Style Awards	Best TV Director	Khuda Dekh Raha Hai	Nominated

External links

• [https://www.imdb.com/{{#if: 0838526

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• Profile at vidhifilms.com
• Women of Pakistan feature
• New York Times review of "Silent Waters"
• Video Interview of Sabiha Sumar
• {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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