Pakistanis are on a roll this year representing the country on foreign soil and bringing multiple accolades home. Director Kashif Pasta is the most recent one to make the big announcement that his sci-fi short film — Desi Standard Time Travel — will have its US premiere at the 20th annual Tallgrass Film Festival in Wichita, United States.
Making it public on Instagram, the directed wrote that the festival is a huge deal for him.
“Proud to announce the US premiere of my new short Desi Standard Time Travel at @tallgrassfilm on Oct 1st, in-person and online! We’re screening at the 20th anniversary of Tallgrass, during the 100 year anniversary at the gorgeous Orpheum in Wichita, Kansas,” he wrote.
View this post on Instagram
Kashif called his film “a time travel drama with heart” and is looking forward to the premiere.
“Tallgrass is a huge deal to me. From the festival programmers to the attendees to the other filmmakers, the spirit of stubborn independence is alive and well in Wichita, Kansas and I can’t wait to see how our Pakistani-Canadian time travel drama with heart plays to an audience of non-South Asians in the heartland.”
Ali Kazmi, who stars in the film, also shared his delight on Instagram Stories and wrote: “Couldn’t be happier to have our US premiere at the 20th anniversary of Tallgrass Film. This festival has been a goal for a minute of the deeply supportive community of filmmakers and audiences they bring together.”
Kashif also shared that it is a Pakistani-Canadian sci-fi drama short “with a ton of comedy and heart”. He posted a long note in which he described the film’s synopsis; “When a new father suddenly loses his own dad, an opportunity to travel back in time for an evening gives him a chance to end things on a better note.”
View this post on Instagram
The cast includes Adolyn H. Dar who was recently seen in Superman & Lois, Anika Zulfikar, who will be seen in Asim Abbasi’s upcoming web series, along with Sumit Dhingra and Harleen Uppal. The short film has been written by Aysha Aijaz, Nessa Aref and Kashif Pasta, and produced by Eric Bizzarri and Shyam Valera.