Award-Winning Film Explores Transgender Activism in Pakistan

The feature length documentary “Chuppan Chupai” (Hide & Seek) explores transgender activism and underground queer life in urban Pakistan by following the everyday lives of four extraordinary individuals and their constant play of ‘hide and seek’ with mainstream Pakistan where LGBT rights have yet to be recognized. The film is co-directed by Saad, an alumnus of the Global UGRAD – Pakistan program, and produced by Madari Films in Denmark. The North American premiere of the film will be on May 11, 2013 as part of the 29th Annual Boston LGBT Film Festival. As the co-director, co-producer and cinematographer of the film, Saad will be speaking to the audience at a panel discussion following the screening.

Saad relates the inception of “Chuppan Chupai” to a short story he wrote for a Fiction Writing class as a Global UGRAD – Pakistan fellow at Boston University. “With the help of screen-writer friends from Boston University, I worked on the story for a year and turned it into a screenplay. The next step was to look for funding.” Through social media, Saad connected with Saadat Munir, a Danish film critic, who was very supportive of the idea of the film and expressed interest in raising funds for the production. Munir and Saad subsequently worked together on a documentary feature as a pilot project before venturing into narrative filmmaking.

“Chuppan Chupai” is the recipient of International Human Rights Award at the Libercine Film Festival in Argentina, and is currently having its successful festival run across Europe, the Americas and the Mid-East. Since October 2012, it has screened to festival audiences in Copenhagen, London, Ankara, Torino and Buenos Aires. It screens in Boston, Mumbai, Amsterdam and Tel Aviv in May and June respectively.

For Saad, the screening of “Chuppan Chupai” at the Boston LGBT Film Festival has a special meaning. “I feel the most excited about the screening in Boston as it’s in a city that I feel really connected to. When I was a Global UGRAD – Pakistan fellow at Boston University, I first saw the poster for this festival, and had a latent wish to one day have one of my films screened there. Two years down the line, the wish has come true”.

Saad currently runs his own Video and Film production company, Papier Mâché Films in Islamabad. For additional information about the documentary, you can follow Chuppan Chupai on Facebook.

The Global Undergraduate Exchange Program in Pakistan is supported by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) of the U.S. Department of State and implemented by IREX.