I’m very happy that we were able to pull this off,“ says filmmaker Mo Naqvi over the phone from the United States.

He’s just returned from the Cannes Film Festival in France. The A-list festival is the oldest and largest film festival in the world and hosts some of the world’s most well known filmmakers. This is the one place where you can meet, rub shoulders with and network with the who’s who in the world of global cinema. If you’ve made it at Cannes, you’ve made it in filmmaking.

Pakistani-Canadian film director and producer Mohammad ‘Mo’ Naqvi — whose last film, The Accused: Damned or Devoted?, was nominated for a PrimeTime Emmy earlier this year, and who is one of the executive producers of the top 10 global Netflix series Turning Point — just launched, along with his team, the Pakistan Crescent Collective at Cannes. This is the first time Pakistan has had a central film hub at the festival.

The objective is to connect Pakistani and diaspora filmmakers with other international filmmakers and producers, global production houses and distributors among others, and to promote Pakistani talent and films worldwide.

Pakistani-Canadian fi lm director and producer ‘Mo’ Naqvi has just helped launch the Pakistan Crescent Collective, a central fi lm hub at the Cannes Film Festival to promote Pakistani talent and fi lms globally

“It was historic that we were able to do this,” says Mo, “It wasn’t just me, my whole team put this together. We feel victorious.” The other members of the international film industry professionals that contributed to the creation and launch of the Pakistan Crescent Collective include British Film Institute PR Manager of Festivals Sanam Hasan, Modoxy Executive Producer Aman Haque, HBO Executive Producer Sarah Khan, International Film Publicist Dheeraj Agnihotri, Media Hive CEO Samir Ahmed, PCC coordinator Amun Chaudhary, Film Producer Mahum Jamal and PCC associate Shehryar Ali.

Pakistani cinema has been developing somewhat of a close connection with and creating an impact at Cannes of late. Saim Sadiq’s Joyland (2022) won the Un Certain Regard jury prize and and, last year, Zarrar Kahn’s In Flames won the Director’s Fortnight section. Both of these films were Pakistan’s official submissions to the Academy Awards.

Mo mentions that the Pakistan Crescent Collective aimed to build on that momentum by launching a robust and comprehensive programme for the 77th Cannes Film Festival, which included a filmmaker panel discussion and event following the market preview screening for the highly anticipated The Glassworker.

Directed by Usman Riaz, The Glassworker is a landmark production for Pakistani cinema. It is the country’s first hand-painted animation film, and is inspired by the iconic Japanese animation house Studio Ghibli.

The Glassworker is Usman Riaz’s love letter to Japanese animation. Riaz, who founded the Karachi-based Mano Studios, visited Studio Ghibli in 2015, which inspired him to start his own studio. The significance of this event is highlighted by Studio Ghibli receiving the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, and The Glassworker being selected for its world premiere at the renowned Annecy International Film Festival next month.

But hosting the first Pakistani film hub is not the only thing this crew did. The Pakistan Crescent Collective also co-hosted the inauguration and reception for the world’s first South Asian film market, launched by the Oscar-qualifying Tasveer Film Festival. The Tasveer Film Market will be taking place in October 2024 in Seattle, US.

“A film market has films that are under production or in development and we try to pair them with buyers,” explains Mo. “We had 18 buyers from around the world show up for the launch. The film market is going to happen during the Tasveer Film Festival in October but we wanted to announce it at Cannes.

“The objective of announcing it at Cannes was to host a quick speed-networking event, to pair buyers and funders that were already present at the event with South Asian productions. So they could get their projects off the ground.

“There was another filmmaker at the film market,” relates Mo. “We didn’t know about him initially but we met him there. I wanted to give a shout out to him — Muhammad Haris — who was showing his 3D animated film, The Chronicles of Umro Ayyar.” The film is a fantasy-fiction feature inspired by the folklore of Tilism-i-Hoshruba.

“I’ve spent 20 years fighting so hard to be noticed and to get past gatekeepers and feeling so isolated and so alone,” says Mo. “I realised that if I want to change this, that change has to come from me. Maybe I can give to other people what I always wanted. And that’s what I’m doing here.

“I’m so lucky and privileged to have been successful in doing that. In celebrating amazing artists such as Usman and others, and also finding the next generation of filmmakers and projects.

“This is what I wanted to change for the next generation. There are other colleagues who also felt this. We are really celebrating Pakistani filmmakers with this. If we’re not going to celebrate our own, who is? If we’re not going to stand up and clap for our artists, who will? And this is the beginning,” he finishes. “I cannot wait for the rest of our programming to be unveiled throughout the year.”

Judging by the historic events that have just taken place at the Cannes Film Festival with the Pakistan Crescent Collective and the launch of the upcoming Tasveer Film Market, this is turning out to be an interesting year. Let’s hope it’s a ‘turning point’ for Pakistani cinema and filmmakers.

Published in Dawn, ICON, May 26th, 2024