April 15, 2023 at 2:30:00 PM
AFS Cinemas
Virtual April 28 - May 1, 2023
Swipe
Pakistan | Short
2020 | 14 min | Urdu
Official Selection of Annecy International Animation Film Festival, AnimaFest Zagreb, and Bengalura International Film Festival '21
A young boy addicted to iFatwa, an app that crowdsources religious death sentences, spends his days swiping on the lives of strangers.
The second animated film created by the Lahore-based Puffball Studios, SWIPE is a confrontation of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, extrajudicial violence, and decreasing space for difference and expression.
About the Artist
Arafat Mazhar is the Director of Engage Foundation, where 9 years of research came together in the seminal report, “The Untold Truth of Pakistan’s Blasphemy Laws,” recognized for its rigor by human rights groups and academics.
In 2019, Arafat launched the animation studio, Puffball. Puffball Studio’s debut film was the highly acclaimed Pakistani dystopian short, SHEHR-E-TABASSUM. The film takes inspiration from lessons learned on censorship while researching Pakistan’s notorious blasphemy laws to tell a poignant story about fear and freedom in in Pakistan today.
SWIPE is the studio's second film and has screened at many of the world's leading festivals of animation.
Trailer
Credits
Director:
Arafat Mazhar
Writer:
Arafat Mazhar
Producer(s):
Arafat Mazhar
Rasti Farooq
Momin Masood
Fatima Anwar
Film Editor:
Thank you to our community partners for this screening!
This program was made possible in part with a grant from Humanities Texas, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
