It is heartbreaking to know that Pakistan's officially selected Oscar submission, Hun Dan - An Echo of a Dirge, failed to reach the Academy Awards due to administrative hurdles and documentation issues. It was Pakistan's first Burushaski language film, directed by Karamat Ali, preventing the country from maintaining its yearly Oscar submission streak since 2013.
Pakistan Oscar Selection Committee Chairman, Muhammad Ali Naqvi (Mo Naqvi), revealed that all the documents for Hun Dan had been submitted before the October 1 deadline to the Academy. A confusion may have occurred since they received an email from the Academy, stating the documents were incomplete, even mentioning another international feature film, Palestine 36, that did not submit its complete paperwork.
Mo Naqvi had been in constant contact with the Academy, and despite the Academy admitting its mistake, Hun Dan still could not make it to the big event this time. Under the Academy Award rules, the film fully complied with the commercial screening in the home country for at least seven consecutive days, along with 50 percent of the dialogue to be in a non-English language.
The Academy could not reverse the issue, ending Hun Dan's hopes for Oscar prematurely. In future submissions, a need for smoother coordination has prominently occurred here. For Hun Dan, the consequence was particularly significant. The film carried a cultural and historical importance beyond awards recognition that needed to reach a global platform.
Hun Dan is based on a folk tale from Hunza and conveys a message of harmony between nature and human life. Intangible cultural heritage, wildlife conservation, climate change, and coexistence with nature are the interwoven themes of the film. Even the filmmaker, Karamat Ali, was proud of the project's nature since it reflected the stories of the indigenous people, their landscapes, and traditions. The film painted the rich cultural heritage of the region and the importance of environmental stewardship.
Pakistan's presence in the Oscars race has been sporadic. The country first submitted a film for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film (now Best International Feature Film) in 1959 with Jago Hua Savera, directed by A.J. Kardar. This was followed by Ghunghat in 1963, directed by Khawaja Khurshid Anwar.
After decades of absence, Pakistan returned to the competition in 2013 with Zinda Bhaag, an Urdu/Punjabi comedy-drama centered on illegal immigration, marking a renewed effort to re-establish its cinematic voice on the global stage. It was directed by Meenu Guar and Farjad Nabi, representing a revival in Pakistani cinema after decades of silence, as the country was "preoccupied with coups, wars, religion that cinema has only been reduced to low entertainment by the powers-that-be," as per Variety.
Although Pakistan has submitted numerous films since 2013 for consideration in the same category, the country has never won an Academy Award nomination, making Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy's short-subject documentary an exception. The two documentaries, Saving Face (2012) and A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness (2015), won two Oscars.
Due to a historically underdeveloped film industry, lack of state support, and conservative censorship, Pakistan has faced challenges in creative storytelling, thus restricting its reach to the Oscars. Documentaries still made their way to the Academy, while local feature films struggled to meet technical and release standards, except Joyland (2022), which gained a lengthy standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival.
Of course, the film made headlines due to its objectionable content and a severe ban. The decision was reversed by a committee formed to review the ban. Even during the ban, the film received strong support, ensuring its contention for the Academy Awards. Yet again, the film failed to secure any nominations.
The International Feature Film category is highly competitive, requiring significant promotion, distribution, and critical acclaim, which is not possible in a beleaguered film industry like Pakistan. The global cinematic quality of the film submitted for the Oscars' category demands stories that transcend limitations and boundaries. The stories need to be open about their social and cultural issues with honesty and creative freedom.
The stories should engage the audience to think on a more "human" level instead of merely serving commercial interests. The film should touch the heart or change lives, which certainly involves confronting sensitive or uncomfortable themes with courage and authenticity.
With the current situation at hand, Pakistan does not seem to be ready for this artistic merit. The local film industry is grappling with financial stability, limited theatrical infrastructure, inconsistent production output, and minimal global distribution partnerships. The domestic industry lacks institutional backing and marketing budgets, which could have benefited Pakistan with sustained visibility in influential Western media outlets.
Echoes is an opinion column on film and television from the perspective of a writer based in Pakistan.