Award-winning short film on transgender girl screened

LAHORE:Pakistani short film “Darling” which won the Orizzonti Award for Best Short Film at the 76th Venice Film Festival was screened here on Sunday.

A large number of people from different walks of life attended the screening and put pertinent questions to the cast and crew of the film at the end of the show. “Darling”, directed by Saim Sadiq, tells the story of a struggling transgender girl, Alina Khan, and her lover Abdullah Malik. It reflects stereotypes associated with transgender individuals in our society.

The trans-girl’s success to get a role as a dancing crew member for stage (theatre) performances in Lahore together with her lover’s emotional reaction during all this time makes the 16-minute short film really interesting.

Noted actor and director Sarmad Khoosat who moderated the Q&A session quite amicably termed “Darling” having a great life pulse. Trans-actress Alina Khan who made her professional film debut in “Darling” termed the whole experience as a dream coming true. “I really liked doing the film and also learnt a lot during the whole process,” she added.

Saim Sadiq termed the film an effort to humanise stories of transgender people in Pakistan. He also narrated Darling’s journey to the Venice Film Festival and bagging an award at the end.

Visual artist Sana Jafri, who is casting and assistant director of the short film, explained as to how they managed to get the right person for the lead role and as to how Alina Khan through her real-life experiences added richness to the film. Noted actress and comedian Nadia Afghan and Abdullah Malik also spoke about their experiences in making of the “Darling”.