A student of the Media Sciences Department of Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST), Shahrukh Khan, directed and produced a short documentary film “What a Waste”, which has been selected for the Cannes Film Festival 2017.
The documentary revolves around gold-panners, who work in a close knit neighbourhood of jewellery market of Sadder in Karachi. The story unravels an ancient profession that is preserved and passed down from generation to generation in a growing urban landscape. Speaking with The Express Tribune, he said, “I am speechless. It’s a dream come true for me.”
The student revealed that his father used to tell him about the gold-panners, and from there his interest in them grew, he followed them around for five months in different areas of Karachi, including Korangi.
“We had our documentary vision course last semester and I submitted a draft of the documentary. But I continued to work on it until this February so I could send it to Cannes.” He said.
Shahrukh said that it was really difficult to make the gold-panners talk. “Mind you, they are not sweepers. What they do is, people who work with jewellery often have gold dust attached to their hands and feet. The trash in jewellery workshops also contains gold dust. So they collect their garbage and extract gold out of it by various processes including brushing, burning and washing.”
He finished his project last month, with a team, which included Moiz Faisal serving as the director of photography, Salman Ahmed as music composer and Ammar Alee Danish as the editor.
According to Shahrukh, he found his inspiration from British documentary film-maker Asif Kapadia, Wong Kar Wai and Christopher Nolan.
“I am not just restricted to documentaries. I want to explore everything. I’m currently working on my thesis which is a fictional short that anyone landing at the airport would see and understand what Karachi is all about. I like to make films about socially and culturally relevant topics.” He said.
When he was asked about whether he would be going to attend the film festival, he said “I can’t afford to, but I will have to look for any sponsorship. If I get a chance to go, I definitely will.”
Getting a film into the festival, is already a mark of prestige, since only a few films from around the world are picked for official screenings out of many submissions. Being a Pakistani, i feel proud and honoured that the talent of our students is getting recognised worldwide.
