"KASHF : The Lifting of the Veil’" Pakistani feature film

Find more about this film and the director Kashf: The Lifting of the Veil – An Interview with Ayesha Khan - The Lifting of the Veil is said to be Pakistan's first English-language feature film in 30 years.

Sufism on the Big Screen - Positive Narrative about Pakistan

A Pakistani feature film that explores Sufism and its impact on the country’s cultural heritage. As headlines about Taliban atrocities abound, the film highlights a different, ‘positive’ narrative about Pakistan as it follows a young man’s spiritual journey towards mystical Islam.

The movie explores Sufism – the mystical side of Islam – through the eyes of Armaghan, who was born after an oath his mother made to a Sufi Pir when she was childless. Armaghan’s mother promises the Pir, who blesses her, to let her son ‘walk the Sufi path’ when he grows up. However, he returns to Pakistan from America after 25 years, unaware of the secret about to change his life. According to the film’s website, Kashf “is a story of universal relevance exploring humanity’s basic questions of who we are, and why we are here.”

‘Kashf’ is currently screening at art house theatres and prestigious universities in the United States, where audiences are struck by the protagonist’s transformative engagement with religion, the lush cinematography of Lahore, and the alternate window on Pakistan that the film offers.

Here, Ayesha Khan, the director of ‘Kashf’, talks to Dawn.com about Sufism, Pakistan and the politics of filmmaking.

See the short SLIDE SHOW - Video with Ayesha Khan give an intro to this Feature Film

here

EXCERPT from the interview - here's a quote from the director: "In the U.S., the movie is already creating a ‘perceptional shift’ in American audiences vis a vis Pakistan as it exposes them to something different other than bearded terrorists. For Pakistanis, I hope the initiation into the Sufi path as depicted in the film would remind us in the words of one of our reviewers “the paths to happiness and fulfillment (and God), though obscured or veiled, are many and findable, with effort and determination.” – Patricia L. Sharpe



Q: People have called films like Zibahkhana, Ramachand Pakistani, Khuda Kay Liye, and now, Kashf, a revival of Pakistani cinema. Where would you like to see the country’s film industry in ten years?

Director: "I would in all optimism like to see a new cinema emerging out of Pakistan telling our stories. "

To READ full interview GO here