Pakistani short film honoured with 'Frank Capra Award'

Heal, a short film by Pakistani Director and Writer, Mian Adnan Ahmed has been honoured with Frank Capra Award at this year's Fallbrook Film Festival in US. The film got four international awards in different film festivals last year featuring a unique story between the regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The movie will be also screened at the Berkshire International Film Festival on June 5th at US. While Pakistan remains in the eye of the storm, a short film from Pakistan has also been receiving laurels in the US and around the world for the powerful concept, which uses the supernatural to bring focus to the often ignored plight of civilians living in times of conflict, said Adnan Ahmed while talking to APP here on Saturday.
Heal, a final year thesis film written and directed by Mian Adnan Ahmad and produced by Marcus Metsala. Mian Adnan Ahmad film was originally submitted as thesis project for Chapman University's MFA in Film Production programme where it also received the highest number of awards for a film made that year. Since its final completion in 2010, the film was screened at more than 20 film festivals world-wide, winning 18 awards to date.
Heal is set in the conflict regions between Afghanistan and Pakistan and tells the story of how a gifted eight-year-old boy makes an extraordinary effort for his people. Cinematography for the film is by Dani Sanchez-Lopez and the film is edited by Yukako Shimada. Production design is done by Prajakta Ghag and the original music composed by Tuomas Kantelinen, with the film's sounds design completed by John-Kenneth E. Brady and Mian Adnan Ahmad.
The cast comprises the established US film and television actor, Navid Negahban along with Fereshta Kazemi, Walid Amini and then first-time child actors Ameer Zhowandai and Hannah Sher. Heal is the winner of Jury Prize for Best International Shorts (Special Mention), Fantasia International Film Festival, 2010, Jesse Epstein Humanitarian Award, Cleveland International Film Festival, Best Student Film, Lake Arrowhead Film Festival, and Best of Festival, Lake Arrowhead Film Festival, 2010 (while in competition against short films, feature films and documentaries. HEAL is the first short film to have ever received this award).
The 24-minute movie captures the life of a gifted child Azeem amidst the conflict region between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Azeem and the other children look up to the only teacher in their village when circumstances turn for the worst in a tragic night, which leaves their teacher in a state of despair. With education as their only hope, Azeem must now do everything in his capacity to help him start again.
According to the filmmaker, he always wanted to explore the supernatural genre. At the same time his experiences, while making a documentary on children affected by a major earthquake that hit Pakistan gave him a real glimpse of what destruction can do to children. This along with a constant awareness of the conflict in Afghanistan and Pakistan and seeing the hunger for education in the rural areas there, formed the basis for the need to tell a story such as Heal.
The reality is that a way of life, a culture, is slowly eroding away to conflict, war and nothingness. "As a team of young filmmakers we were motivated to tell a story about a child having a special gift, while allowing audiences to connect at a human level with people living in these areas of conflict," Adnan said.