Slackistan — the director’s cut

Slackistan is slotted for release in Pakistan later this year.


Momina Sibtain October 07, 2010

ISLAMABAD: When Hammad Khan picked up the camera, he wanted to make a film true to the life in Islamabad. And it will not be long now before people get to see how well he fared- Slackistan is slotted for release in Pakistan later this year, Khan told The Express Tribune on Wednesday.

“My own experiences brought about this idea. I feel that young people these days are far more connected with the society than I was during my time. However, there is a lack of progression, [which I wanted to capture in my film],” Khan said over a telephonic conversation from London.

Slackistan is Khan’s first feature film — previously he had worked on four short films. The film follows the story of a group of recently graduated friends in Islamabad. Through them, the director attempts to capture the nature of Islamabad’s social and professional fabric. The film, according to Khan, focuses on the struggles youth in Islamabad face while in pursuit of their dreams.

The first ten minutes of the film were screened earlier this year in the prestigious Cannes Film Festival and will make its premiere at the ongoing Raindance Film Festival in London. Later the film will also be screened at the South Asian Film Festival in New York and International Film Festival in Goa towards the end of November.

Khan was the only crew member on the production and took on the responsibilities of casting, shooting, direction and editing. “It was not easy to have a crew roaming around Islamabad, so I had to be the one doing all the work,” he said.

The actors, according to Khan, were not professionally trained.  “My actors were a mixture of people I picked out at the auditions and others that I contacted through family, friends and personal contacts,” Khan said, adding, “I didn’t want the film to look as if it was being acted out. I wanted a very natural feel to it.”

And in this goal, Khan felt, he succeeded. The initial response to the film, including the acting, has been very encouraging. “I was pleasantly surprised [to see that] my actors were able to [accomplish what was asked of them].”

Khan hopes that Slackistan will help improve the culture of film in Pakistan and pave way for Pakistani films to eventually have an identity of their own on the international map.

“I hope Pakistani people start acknowledging the work that is being done by the local filmmakers and support them,” he said. Khan is currently looking for a distributor for the film in Pakistan and hopes cinema-goers in the country will appreciate it once it is released.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 7th, 2010.

COMMENTS (1)

Sidrah Moiz Khan | 13 years ago | Reply Hey. Can I please know when is this movie going to be released in Karachi?
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