In response to an October 2007 Newsweek cover article calling Pakistan "the most dangerous country in the world," Nasir Khan and Ayesha Khan decided to make a documentary about life in Pakistan.
"I had just come back from (Pakistan), and there was nothing particularly dangerous going on there at the time," executive producer Ayesha said. She was born and raised in Pakistan until she was 17 years old and now lives in Santa Fe.
The film "Made in Pakistan," filmed in 2006, follows four young professionals - a politician, a lawyer, a journalist and a publicist - to illustrate Pakistan's cultural landscape today. It plays at the Guild Cinema through Wednesday. Ayesha will host a Q&A session today after the 7:30 p.m. screening.
The documentary was scheduled to play next month, but Ayesha said it was too important of a film to wait so long to show it.
"Because of what's happening in the newspapers right now, we thought it's a perfect time to bring the film out and broaden peoples' picture of Pakistan," she said.
Yesterday, the AP reported that the Pakistani army says at least 180 suspected militants have been killed in the past 24 hours in the northwest's Swat Valley and surrounding areas. Reports also said that thousands of fearful civilians, many on foot, fled a war-torn Pakistani valley on Sunday to take advantage of a lifted curfew that could precede an even more intense round of fighting between the military and the Taliban. Hundreds of thousands have already fled what the prime minister called a 'war of the country's survival.' The flight adds a humanitarian crisis to the nuclear-armed nation's economic, political and other woes.
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Director Nasir, who lives in Pakistan and has no relation to Ayesha, said the film is important for audiences abroad and for people in the country. Nasir held screenings in Pakistan and got positive
responses, Ayesha said.
"Even though we're living in a difficult situation and difficult times, as a people we have a lot of promise and hope for the future, so that's what this film sort of shows," Nasir said. "Whenever we see stories about Pakistan, it's just about terrorism. If you ever get a chance to come to Pakistan, you'll not see things like that. Obviously we have issues and there are problems here, but people are struggling to keep their way of life and this is the majority in Pakistan right now."
Ayesha said finding subjects to be filmed for the documentary was difficult.
"Unlike in the States, Pakistanis don't necessarily want to be on camera," she said. "It's a little bit culturally different. We had to do a lot of convincing that it would be good for the country. It was part of a desire to kind of show an international market that there's a lot more to Pakistan than what is being written about in the Western media."
Nasir targeted issues he wanted to cover before finding his subjects.
"Politics we wanted to touch upon," he said. "We wanted to see a young person writing and then someone in the fashion world. The entertainment business here is huge now."
Ayesha said that although some people have criticized the film for not covering all socioeconomic groups in Pakistan, they are missing the point.
"We felt that this particular working-class kind of people in Pakistan are underrepresented in the press," she said. "If you look in the New York Times right now, it's like it's not a failed state. It's a finished state. What about normal people who have to make a living there? What about them? What is their purpose of being in the country?"
She said politics were rapidly changing during the filming in Pakistan.
"Unfortunately, the chief justice had been removed from office in 2007, so the lawyers had gone out on the streets," she said. "The courts weren't working. The law basically called a full strike. The lawyer is going to all the rallies. He was able to capture incredible footage and incredible on-the-street interviews with these people. They are fighting for democracy."
'Made in Pakistan'
Monday-Wednesday
5 p.m., 6:15 and 7:30
Guild Cinema
3405 Central Ave. N.E.
$7 general/$5 students
