Passoon – a short film inspired by a young climate activist in Dir, Pakistan recently won the first prize at Girls Impact the World Film Festival.
The winner, Sarah Jehaan Khan is a student at Manfield College Oxford University. Sarah’s film is based on a young climate activist, Manal Shad who hails from Dir.
The Journey Towards Success
The word Passoon literally means ‘to rise for a cause’ and that’s what Sarah’s film talks about. In an age where young minds are changing the ways of the world, Sarah wanted to share the story of Manal who voices her concerns about the changing climate from a small village of Pakistan.
“I immediately knew I wanted to get in touch with her, and once I managed to find her in Dir, I spent some days at her home and visited her school where I filmed Passoon. Seeing the impact individuals such as Greta Thunberg have had, I felt it was equally important to amplify the voices of young climate activists from developing countries such as Pakistan,” Sarah told Dawn Images.
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Although Sarah is fluent in Pashto, and she beautifully translated the story, she did face some challenges. According to Sarah, traveling and filming in a new and unfamiliar region was very hard for her.
Sarah is glad that she was able to amplify the voices of young activists through her film. Stories like these have the power to impact lives and change the world.
“This experience has made me appreciate the power film has in addressing, and even tackling global human rights issues such as climate change. I hope to continue using mediums of storytelling to address the reality of the risk climate change poses to basic human rights, but also to document innovative adaptation strategies from around Pakistan,” she said.
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