Spare the Rod
Filmmakers: Ramsha Tariq, Malaika Shah, Minahil Sajjad, Fatima Amjad Satti
Country: Pakistan
Language: Urdu
Year: 2026
Run Time: 9 mins
A Battle Against Corporal Punishment in School Leaves Parents in Despair
Spare the Rod follows nine-year-old Qasim and his family in rural Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the year after Qasim is beaten by his headmaster for missing a day of school. As his parents pursue justice through the courts, they face mounting costs, stalled hearings, and a village that quietly cuts them off for speaking up, while the headmaster refuses to admit wrongdoing and defends corporal punishment as necessary. It is a film about what it costs to demand accountability in a place where the man who beats your child is called his spiritual father.
Director(s):
Developed as a final-year thesis at NUST by a four-member team of female Mass Communication graduates, Spare the Rod explores real-life systemic disconnects across Pakistan. Moved by stories that often go unnoticed, the group set out to examine how institutional and social gaps shape young lives. Their debut observational documentary earned critical recognition, winning Best Debut Documentary at the Peshawar International Film Festival.
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Surat
Director: Mehrab Khalid
Country: Pakistan
Language: Balochi
Year: 2026
Run Time: 10 mins
When conflict disrupts mobile networks in Balochistan, a student living far from home holds on to his mother’s recorded voice as a tenous connection
Surat is a poetic documentary about a son living in Lahore while his family remains in Turbat, Balochistan. With mobile networks often interrupted by conflict, the filmmaker begins recording his everyday conversations with his mother so he can return to her voice when they cannot speak. Through these recordings, alongside quiet observations of life in Lahore and memories of home, the film explores distance, longing, absence, and the emotional connection between a mother and son.
Director:
Mehrab Khalid is a Baloch filmmaker from Turbat, Balochistan, and a Film & TV student at the National College of Arts (NCA), Lahore. His work explores the landscapes, beauty, and lived realities of Balochistan, with a particular focus on the everyday life experiences of its Indigenous community. Through a poetic and observational approach, he documents stories that are often overlooked, preserving voices, places, and moments that shape the region's identity.Driven by a deep connection to his homeland, Mehrab is committed to capturing every frame and every story from Balochistan, using cinema as a way to witness, remember, and share the complexities of the place.
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