In a moment of pride for Pakistan, Saim Sadiq’s short film Darling has won the Orizzonti Award for Best Short Film at the 76th annual Venice Film Festival.
Darling revolves around the story of a young boy and a trans girl. The film features upcoming actress Mehar Bano, Abdullah Malik, and Nadia Afgan while the role of Alina in Darling is played by Alina Khan, a real transgirl actor from Lahore who makes her acting debut in the film.
The Orizzonti Award runs parallel to the Golden Lions at the festival and this year 19 feature films and 13 short films were screened in this section.
Last year another short film by Sadiq, Nice Talking To You, had won the Best Director Award at the Columbia University Film Festival.
One would urge our television channels, running back to back content 24/7, to air Darling as well as other festival films that Pakistan keeps producing and that go ignored in the larger wave of commercial content.
