A new short film draws on the story of a real-life girl who found herself at the center of a controversy about privacy and modesty. Watch here.
The filmmaker sees the double standards around women’s sexuality as a struggle faced by women around the world.
Hearing the story made Gul curious to see Ahmed’s dance, and when she did it sparked a realization. “It was so innocent and so sweet, and it was so sensual at the same time,” she said. “It dawned on me that when girls are growing up—when I was growing up—we didn’t have an idea of what is considered sexual in terms of our moves, our bodies, how to go about what can be public, what should remain private.
Gul’s visual style accentuates that tension. Tight shots and small spaces keep the film intimate. We explore Zara’s interiority. But even in her most private moments, silhouetted in darkness, her face is intermittently illuminated by the flash of her phone, juxtaposing her inner self with the fact that she’s constantly being perceived and consumed.
Zara is walking a tightrope, navigating a conflicting set of ideas and rules about women’s desirability and shame. Gul sees this kind of coercion and the double standards around women’s sexuality as a struggle faced by women around the world. Gul now lives in the U.K., and she draws on experiences of her friends there and research about revenge-porn cases in Europe as much as on her own upbringing in Pakistan.
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