Four Pakistani films that won global acclaim in 2025

KARACHI:

Pakistani cinema made decisive inroads on the international stage in 2025, with a clutch of locally produced films collecting significant honours across respected festival platforms, signalling both rising confidence at home and a welcome recognition of creative depth abroad.

The most historic milestone came through the feature documentary ‘Moklani – The Last Mohanas’, directed by Jawad Sharif, which won the Global Voices Award at the Jackson Wild Media Awards in Wyoming, a premier celebration of environmental and nature-based storytelling.

The film follows the Mohana community living on Manchhar Lake in Sindh, whose traditional boat-dwelling culture is endangered by shrinking waters and pollution, blending lyrical cinematography with a quietly urgent environmental message that struck a deep chord with international jurors.

Sharif’s win marked the first time a Pakistani production had secured a Jackson Wild award, cementing the film’s place not only as a cultural document but also as an important intervention in global conversations on fragile ecosystems and disappearing heritage.

Narrative cinema also produced standout success stories. At the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Film Festival in China, the psychological horror film ‘Deemak’ won the Best Editing Award, highlighting the film’s strong technical craft and measured rhythm within a sharply competitive regional lineup.

Directed by Rafay Rashdi, ‘Deemak’ features performances from Sonya Hussyn, Samina Peerzada and Faysal Quraishi, and its recognition brought an often-marginalised genre squarely into the centre of international appreciation for Pakistani storytelling.

At the same festival, ‘Nayab’ earned the Special Jury Award, further elevating Pakistan’s profile at the event. Directed by Umair Nasir Ali, the film tells the story of a young woman determined to break into men’s cricket against heavy odds.

Lead actor Yumna Zaidi’s performance was widely praised for restraint and emotional clarity, and the film’s recognition underlined how culturally rooted narratives can travel with authenticity, resonating with audiences far beyond the country’s borders.

Later in the year, Pakistan registered another festival triumph when ‘Welcome to Punjab’, directed by Shehzad Rafique, won the Best Audience Award at the Baku Cinema Breeze Film Festival in Azerbaijan during celebrations marking Pakistan Film Day.

The film’s selection and subsequent recognition confirmed a growing appetite among international viewers for Pakistani popular cinema, demonstrating that emotional storytelling anchored in regional identity can speak fluently across cultural boundaries. These successes also coincided with rising international visibility for independent shorts and documentaries, creating an ecosystem where large-scale narrative features and intimate nonfiction projects were both recognised for innovation and thematic ambition.