March 2024, Islamabad, Pakistan

WOMEN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Our Journey

To fill a huge gender gap in the field of storytelling using digital media and film, mainly due to lack of awareness and opportunities for women, a movement to encourage and facilitate them in using self-expression, storytelling, fiction, and citizen journalism through filmmaking to raise their voice and create social change, took birth. We call it Women through Film.

While battling the ailing independent film appreciation among the wider public, and supporting to celebrate the work of women filmmakers, came into existence Pakistan’s home-grown Women International Film Festival (WIFF), as the flagship initiative of Women Through Film.

WIFF has been previously supported by the European Union for the years 2018 & 2019, the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2020, the Embassy of France, and Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2021, the Embassy of France, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany and British Council in 2022, and the Embassy of France and Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2023.

WIFF has successfully completed seven editions every year for the past seven years and we hope to host the eighth edition in a bigger, more impactful manner. After successful trips to Karachi and Lahore last year, WIFF intends to travel to more regions of Pakistan, especially Gilgit-Balistan. With this larger outreach, WIFF will be able to engage more diverse groups, other than the main cities of Pakistan that already enjoy relatively more exposure.

With the support of the Ambassade de France au Pakistan, the German Embassy in Pakistan, this year the open air public screenings spread over two days in which 20 short films were shown from all over the world, out of which three films made by Pakistani filmmakers, My Mother’s Daughter by Amen Khawaja, Baira Gharakh by Mehreen Jabbar and Awaaz by Halima Tariq were also showcased.
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With the support of the Ambassade de France au Pakistan, the German Embassy in Pakistan and British Council, this year the film festival spanned over six days showing short and feature length films made by women from France, Iran, Mexico, Russia, India, Estonia, Australia, Austria, Denmark and Egypt that were received by the audience with keen interest. The event also showcased two Pakistani films.
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With the support of Ambassade de France au Pakistan, the German Embassy in Pakistan, and City FM 89, the fifth edition of the WIFF launched in March 2021. Due to Covid restrictions, the event was hosted completely online catering to multiple time zones with the intention of reaching out to broader audiences.
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With the support of the German Cooperation in Pakistan, in association with the Austrian Embassy, FACE, Serena Hotel, and official radio partner FM91, the 4th edition of the WIFF made rounds at different university campuses across the twin cities as well as its venturing into Peshawar for the first time.
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The festival spanned for  6 days, with the first 5 days of the event showing feature-length films made by female filmmakers from Austria, Bulgaria, Italy, Spain, and Sweden, that were received by the audience with keen interest. Many voiced their opinion that they wished to see such cinema being screened in Pakistan in the future as well.

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With the support of the European Union Cooperation in Pakistan, Women Through Film hosted the Women International Film Festival film 2018 that screened some of the most resonant and thought-provoking films made by talented independent filmmakers from around the world, purveying important messages on gender equality, women & child rights, and telling stories of inspiring women. 

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The first of its kind Women International Film Festival was successfully kicked off on the 11th of March 2017 at the Pakistan National Council of Arts (PNCA) in Islamabad. The two-day festival took place during women’s week, featuring 17 films by amateur filmmakers from Pakistan and around the world. Films came in from countries including Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Malaysia, Nigeria, UK, and Mexico.

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Schedule

Timezone: GMT +5

13:00

By Beatrice Campagna (Italy)

The Great Méliès

The complex relationship between a father, a world famous illusionist, and a young musician daughter, is resolved after many years in the very place that has most deeply united and divided them: the stage.
16:20

By Cecilia Petrujno (Argentina)

Three wishes. One truth.

Autumn 1984. Valeria is ten years old and lives in distress out of her father's violence. Speaking about it is forbidden. On her birthday celebration she finds a magical object that can help her to ease her sorrow. Now Valeria has a plan.
07:02

By Damaris Zielke (Germany)

The most boring granny in the whole world

Greta has the most boring grandma in the whole world. When she falls asleep on the sofa, Greta gets the idea, to play funeral with her grandma. This confronts them with some questions they didn’t ask themselves before. Because what remains when you have to leave life behind?
20:00

By Azadeh Moussavi (Iran)

48 hours

After three years in prison, Nader is given a furlough to go home. He has 48 hours to become a father to his four years old daughter.
07:49

By Beyza Yıldır (Turkey)

Inadequate

Ihsan, who is on trial for being socially inadequate, confronts the people who complain about him. These people are his teacher, colleague and older sister.
17:02

By Juliette Gilot (France)

Hot Rod

Summer 2031, 104°. Saadia, 16, is oriented in mechanical school although the car industry is in crisis and there are only a few electric cars in circulation. Her friends, Charly and Titi, throw a joke to cheer her up: what if the car of the future was a horse? Against all odds, Saadia trades her scooter for a massive workhorse which she brings back to the heart of her housing project.
12:00

By Alissa Sophie Larkamp (Germany)

Women of my family

A film as a personal stream of memories - the biographical fragments of a great-grandmother, grandmother and mother are marked by simple circumstances. It is precisely in these that the socio-political circumstances for women of the time are revealed: a lack of interest in medicine for female medical conditions, a lack of education for women, and the obstacles to a self-determined life in the working class. It's about how the big story inscribes itself in the small - but most of all, it's about love. Love and gratitude.
14:50

By Karishma Kohli (United States)

The woman under the tree

Lucia, a homeless woman in South Beach, spends much of her time sitting under a tree, watching the life of a family unfold in a house across the street. When not under the tree, she fights for food and shelter while drifting between reality and delusion. What begins as a seemingly senseless act of voyeurism becomes something deeper as we discover the meaning her routine brings to her life.
17:20

By Jasna Safić (Croatia)

Late winter

Selma and Saša have been arranging for three weeks to go to dinner together, but on the day when they were finally given the opportunity to actually go, Saša's mother conveys them that Saša's demented father Vlado has gone and he needs to be found. Selma and Saša go to his parents' settlement to find him, take him home and put him to the bed.
20:00

By Melodi Tözüm (Turkey)

Misophonia

Ayla is a little girl who lives together with her alcoholic father and loving mother. She has a strong sensibility towards sounds which exceeds to extreme levels. The aggressive character of her father increases her sensitiveness towards sounds and makes it hard for her to live her social life. Even years later, after getting married she still struggles with this disease. However by taking some precautions, she tries to adapt to daily life. However the difficulty of her life conditions and the attitude of the people in her life will push her to leave everything behind and go live in a quiet setting in nature.
06:51

By Elisabetta Laurence (United Kingdom)

Saturated

A night-time visit to an other-worldly launderette throws one boy’s life into an electrifying limbo. Each day is a new adventure that excites and terrifies him in equal measures. And each day brings him closer to making a decision that will change everything.
20:00

By Sonia K. Hadad (Iran) 

File

A 6-year-old mute boy attends a pre-school health screening with his mother. At the test, he makes a decision that changes everything.
20:00

By Latifa Saïd (France)

Toutes les nuits

Belleville. A working-class Parisian neighborhood. For 2 years, Nadia has been living alone with her son, Samy, 15 years old. She teaches French to Chinese prostitutes in an association. Committed to her work, she gets close to one of her students, Mei, who is saving money to make his son travel to France. But one night, Mei is arrested by the police and risks expulsion. Nadia will do whatever it takes to protect her, even if her son Samy gets farther.
16:00

By Mehreen Jabbar (Pakistan)

Baira Gharakh

Nothing goes as planned when a wife, her husband, and his mistress end up in the same house at the same time. With murder in the air, who will be the last one standing?
03:45

By Elise Lorthiois (France) 

Silk’s Balance

Follow 5 women in their intimate adventure, high lining in the middle of the mountains. Doubt, strength, laugh, transcendence, a breath of freedom above the void.      
15:00

By Camille Vigny (Belgium) 

Betty’s burning

To end a toxic and violent relationship, Betty set herself on fire. During the weeks following the tragedy, in the hospital burn unit, oscillating between fantasy and reality, she will rebuild her body and heal the terror that her companion had created in her.
17:09

By Jessica Kraatz (Israel)

Small Life

Three generations of women. A single mother and her lovely daughter Anna, having to deal with aging grandmother leaving for a retirement home. They need to pack a whole life into boxes. Each one of them deals with this new situation through her own barriers, thoughts, and empathy.
18:00

By Halimah Tariq (Pakistan)

Awaaz

Follow the story of Shakila Farooq, the first woman in Mardan to take a stand for educating hearing and speech impaired girls. Experience her journey as a mother who had to struggle to educate her own daughter as she battled hearing disability, as a woman who broke through cultural barriers to speak for the empowerment of girls and their independence, and as a humanitarian as she fights to change the mindset and norms of a patriarchal society.

Team

Backbone of WIFF '23

Achievements

It was all possible with the support of our partners!

In 2018, Women Through Film received the Intercultural Achievement Award from the Austrian government for the Women International Film Festival, ‘for connecting women of all social backgrounds from around the world and serving as a platform for intercultural dialogue and non-formal education.

Supporters

A huge thanks to all our amazing supporters and partners. We couldn’t have this event without your support!

Partners

A huge thanks to all our amazing supporters and partners. We couldn’t have this event without your support!

Venue

Pakistan National Council of Arts (PNCA), Islamabad

Media & Press