KARACHI: A Pakistani short film, ‘Noor,’ which tackles with the stigma around weak eyesight, this week won the "Best Health Film" award in the January online edition of Cannes World Film Festival, with its director saying there is always room for good, educational content in the cinema.
The Cannes World Film Festival announced winners for the January online edition on Monday, in a relatively new development in which the jury acknowledges films made under a variety of genres.
All monthly winners automatically enter the annual competition for a chance to receive a prestigious custom-made metal statuette, the "Luciole d'Or" (Golden Firefly), and an opportunity to have their film screened in Cannes, the cinema capital of the world.
Scripted by Farah Usman, Noor features Sarwat Gilani, Omair Rana, Tanisha Shameem, Mizna Waqas and Tasneem Ansari. The 17-minute short film features a child artist in the lead role.
“It [Noor] highlights the impact on kids of not wearing glasses and how that pressure affects their personalities,” Umer Adil, who directed Noor, shared with Arab News.
“It’s a very cute story told through the lens of a young girl, Noor. She is a very good student but she faces some issues when her eyesight starts to weaken. Basically, it [Noor] is about the stigma attached to glasses that a person isn’t supposed to wear one or else they would look older.”
Noor was one of the nominations announced last week through the festival’s official social media handle. The film released on Pakistani OTT platform SeePrime in January.
It was a project by Sightsavers, an organization that works with school children on their eyesight and provides free screening and glasses.
“They want to promote offbeat films,” Adil said. "Health related films aren’t really made in Pakistan, particularly around eye testing and eye health."
Sightsavers wanted to develop content on stigma around weak eyesight and that was how the film came to life, according to the director. The organization itself submitted the picture in the health film category at the Cannes World Film Festival's January edition.
“The child artist is leading the film so were wondering what kind of feedback it would receive considering that our film industry is star-driven. But we got really good feedback. We got 100,000 organic views initially. People really appreciated it through their comments. It was a good surprise for the platform and for the team,” Adil told Arab News.
“There is always room for good, educational content that can be weaved into a narrative. We underestimate our audience that they won’t appreciate a good message. With the selection at Cannes, we’re getting good feedback as well as more views since the film got nominated last week.”
Another Pakistani short film ‘Pehchaan’, written, directed and produced by Mohammad Ahsan also made it to the nominations of the January Edition at the Cannes World Film Festival but the film did not make the cut in the winners list.
