Filmmaker, Director & Writer
Sandstorm (ملاقات), fiction, 20 minutes (2021)
Producer | Writer | Director
Zara, a schoolgirl in Karachi, shares a sensual dance video with her virtual boyfriend, who then blackmails her.
Seemab Gul
Filmmaker
Seemab Gul is a British-Pakistani filmmaker who works as a producer, writer and director. Her work is interdisciplinary, immersed in the current political dialogue, and focuses on the outsider experience. Her portfolio includes documentaries, drama, hybrid films and art installations. She has produced over ten short films and directed half of them.
Seemab produced, wrote and directed SANDSTORM, a short fiction film that premiered at the 78th Venice Film Festival and at Sundance 2022. It screened at over 100 international film festivals and won 20 awards. SANDSTORM is BIFA-nominated for Best British Short 2022 and won two Oscar-qualifying awards. Her documentary ZAHIDA, was broadcast on Al Jazeera TV channel and its trailer has 20+ million views. Seemab is an alumna of Locarno Open Doors, Berlinale Talents and Venice Biennale College Cinema. She also attended La Fabrique Cinema with her feature project HAVEN OF HOPE, due to release in 2025. She is writing her second feature commissioned by Film4. Seemab has a BA in Fine Art and an MA in Filmmaking from the London Film School. She is represented by Haworth Agency (UK).
Seemab recently founded Cinelava in Pakistan, a production company dedicated to thought provoking arthouse cinema.
Haven of Hope (Panah Gah), in production
Writer, Director & Producer
Three inmates from a Pakistani shelter home for women dare to venture into the outside world for a day. It transpires that their families would rather conveniently brand them lunatics than to give them their rights.
Producers:
UK: Eurasfilms
French: Films du Tambour, Dolce Vita
German: RivaFilm
Dutch: Keplerfilm
Pakistan: Cinelava
Film/Moving Image
Sandstorm Trailer (2021)
Producer • Writer • Director
Towards a Militant Conceptualism (2013)
Producer • Writer • Director
One Day in Whitechapel (2015)
Producer • Writer • Director
Metaphysiques (2015)
Executive Producer • Producer • Writer • Director
Price of Freedom (2013)
Producer • Writer • Director
Collaborations & Links
FILM FESTIVALS & SCREENINGS
Sundance Film Festival, USA 2022
78th Venice Film Festival, Italy 2021
International Children's Rights Film Festival, Turkey 2021
Mosaic International South Asian Film Festival, Canada 2021
Festival du nouveau cinéma, Canada 2021
Uppsala International Short Film Festival, Sweden 2021
AFI Fest, Los Angeles USA 2021
Polyloid Filmfest, Germany 2020
Royal Anthropological Institute Film Festival, UK 2019
62nd International Leipzig Fest for Documentary and Animated Film, Germany 2019
WOW Festival, Pakistan 2019
17 Degree Festival Internazionale Segni della note, Italy 2019
Human Rights Film Festival, Pakistan 2018
Pakistan International Film Festival, Pakistan 2018
Tasveer South Asian Film Festival, USA 2018
London Short Film Festival, UK 2016
Geneva Contemporary Art Centre, Switzerland 2015
Gothenburg Independent Film Festival, Sweden 2014
Oberhausen International Film Festival, Germany 2014
Isola Art Centre (Milan) & Villa Ada (Rome), Italy 2015
Sheffield Doc Fest, UK 2012
BASTAU Int Film Festival, Kazakhstan 2011
East London Film Festival, UK 2007
EXHIBITIONS
2020 December ● Eclectic Mix 2.0 Group Show | Sanat Initiative, Pakistan
2015 December ● Elephant in the Room Group Show | Open School East, UK
2015 November ● Venice Process | 55th Venice Art Biennale, Italy
2011 December ●. LFS Short Films | The National Gallery, UK
2008 - 2010 ● Group Show | Motiroti Foundation at various venues in UK, Pakistan and India
2008 June ● Art is Fayre | Jago Gallery, UK
2007 December ● Group Show | No-ID Gallery, UK
2006 June ● Ouland | Kellarigalleiria, Real Deal, Finland
2001 October ● La Merde et La Mort | 59 Rivoli, France
2000 June ● Solo Show | Maltings Gallery, UK
AWARDS
Sandstorm (2021) 19 Wins & 61 Nominations
Commonwealth Broadcasting Association Multi-media fund
Awarded MA Scholarship at London Film School by UK Skillset Bursary, the Leathersellers Co. and Tower Hamlets Education Trust Fund
NADFAS Competition winner – Video art installation for first solo show