by LAUREN CODLING and SAIRAH MASUD
THE director of a critically acclaimed film set in Pakistan has spoken about how important
it was to represent the country in an accurate light.
My Pure Land, a true story about three women defending their home against militants, is directed by 38-year-old newcomer Sarmad Masud. His debut feature film has been widely recognised by critics and was the UK’s official entry in the Oscar’s foreign language category.
Despite suggestions for the story to be filmed in India or Morocco, the final production was shot in Pakistan. The Bradford-born director said this move was particularly significant to him.
“It was really important to me to make a film that represented the country more accurately. It isn’t accurately represented on screen, so it was important to make a film I
was proud of,” he told Eastern Eye. “A lot of people from Pakistan and south Asia are
claiming the film as their own and they are proud of it as well.
“There are so few films that come out of Pakistan, so it was important in this instance
to film it in Pakistan.”
Masud, who is of Pakistani descent, said he had always been excited by the country (“the chaos, the madness, the landscape, the heat”), but had not had the opportunity to put a project together that epitomised it all.
“I wasn’t sure how I was going to combine all of that until I found this story where all of those elements could come together in the right way,” he said.
The film’s premise centres on a mother and her two daughters who are targeted by 200 armed bandits who want to drive them from their rural home in Pakistan. They fight off the men, refusing to give up even when their supply of bullets begins to dwindle.
Masud came across the story on an online news website, while he was researching for a separate film project. The filmmaker said he was “taken aback” and “inspired” by the strength and the courage of the story and the women behind it.
“I thought, we could do something with it and put it on a bigger platform,” Masud recalled.
“It was a shame it was just a footnote in some newspaper somewhere. It was a couple of years old when I found it, and not everyone knew about it. I thought it was a great opportunity – I found the fact it was a true story quite inspiring and I simply wanted to share that with a lot more people.”
The submission of the film to the Academy Awards also marked the first time the UK had selected an Urdu-language title in a potential bid for a win in the best foreign language film category.
Hearing the news that his film had been chosen as the British entry for the Oscars “completely blew [Masud] away”.
“It had been a crazy journey to get the film made, so for it then to be associated with the Oscars was unbelievable,” Masud said. “It’s an incredibly personal story for me and as we’ve gone through this process I have been saying ‘when one door closes, the wall next to it falls down and you get there in the end’.”
Although the film did not make the shortlist, which was announced in December, Masud said the association with the prestigious awards was “amazing”.
When asked about advice he would give to other aspiring Asian filmmakers, Masud acknowledged how hard it can be to get into the industry.
“It’s like pushing a boulder up a mountain – it isn’t going to be easy,” he admitted. “It does feel like it will be a struggle and you have to be honest about it, but that shouldn’t be the reason you don’t make your films or pursue this.”
When he was growing up, Masud recalled there was not a large number of mainstream
British Asian filmmakers, so he hopes his work can inspire younger generations who have aspirations.
“If any young person sees my film and thinks, ‘I never knew you could do that’ and
it inspires them, that’s such a good thing,” he said. “It is a shame there aren’t more of us but if there is anyone out there, do it.
“You learn so much by making a film - learn by doing and don’t be afraid of it.”
My Pure Land will be screened on Sunday (21) at 6pm at the Genesis cinema in east
London. Masud will also be attending a Q&A after the film.
