Multiple award-winning indie filmmaker Sabiha Sumar, best known for her 2003 feature ‘Khamosh Pani’ (‘Silent Waters’), is currently in Singapore where she has been invited to judge the 3rd Singapore South Asian International Film Festival (SSAIFF). The festival, which continues through September 7, is curated by the Singapore Indian High Commission (IHC), with the declared objective “to serve as a cultural gateway between the global city of Singapore and the developing nations of South Asia.”
Sumar has joined a panel of eminent filmmakers, cinematographers and actors from Asia that include director Rasoul Sadr Ameli (‘My Second Year in College’) from Iran; director K Balachandra and cinematographer Rajiv Menon from India; and director Jayantha Chandrasiri from Sri Lanka. Pakistani film director Adnan Sarwar was also there to screen his inspirational biopic ‘Motorcycle Girl’ (2018). Reportedly, 45 films in different languages were selected for showcase during the course of the festival.
Sumar hasn’t directed a feature since ‘Good Morning Karachi’ (2014). She turned to documentaries and TV dramas mostly. Her last documentary, titled ‘Azmaish: A Journey through the Subcontinent’ (2017), is an Indo-Pak co-production and follows Sumar and Bollywood actress Kalki Koechlin as they travel through different parts of India and Pakistan, exploring the contemporary political and sociocultural realities of the two countries.
