by Gill Pringle at the 3rd Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

“It just felt very personal when a brave woman is taken down. It’s like a piece of every brave woman around the world was taken down when she was killed,” says Bilal whose resultant film, Wakhri – loosely based on Baloch – had its world premiere at the Red Sea International Film Festival.

Bilal goes to great lengths to explain how Wakhri (One of a Kind) isn’t a biopic and, instead, is inspired by Baloch’s short life and tragic death in 2016.

“I needed to make a film about her, but I didn’t want to make a film on her, because I think her life story ended in such a tragic way so I didn’t want to glorify that,” she says referring to the fact that Baloch was actually killed by her own brother – dosed with sleeping pills and then strangled while she slept.

“It was an atypical honour killing, because the family was well aware of her ‘ways’ and were also financially gaining from it. It was a new way of experiencing ‘shame’. It was a new kind of ‘lynching’. It was an incredibly horrific perfect storm brewing, in huge part, by immense social media trolling and in part by the indefatigable patriarchal society we live in,” Bilal tells us when we talk to her in Saudi Arabia.

“And secondly, I wanted to take the fictional license of making it bigger than her, so it’s really not just about her. It’s about all those women who have tried to push against the patriarchy and push against not being seen and not being heard,” she argues.

Baloch was brave and provocative, becoming Pakistan’s first social media celebrity due to videos discussing her rights as a Pakistani woman.

She first received media recognition in 2013 when she auditioned for Pakistan Idol, swiftly becoming one of the top 10 most searched-for persons on the internet in Pakistan.

Both celebrated and criticised for the content of her videos and posts, she was soon compared to Kim Kardashian, although many believed she was far more significant, since her posts actually dared to criticise the largely conservative Pakistani patriarchy.

But she became even more controversial when, in June 2016, she met senior cleric Mufti Abdul Qawi at a hotel to learn more about her faith, creating mayhem on social media platforms and leading to Qawi’s suspension from a Pakistani religious committee.

Soon after, Baloch reported that she had received death threats both from Qawi and others, and demanded police protection. From then on, the state media appeared to be out to get her with criticism piling on resulting in her family being named and shamed and their address publicly revealed.

An activist and entrepreneur, Bilal seems like the perfect filmmaker to bring a version of Baloch’s story to light.

Raised in Pakistan, she first came to the US to study environmental science engineering before switching her focus to filmmaking, directing several films of note including Muslim drama I’ll Meet You There, which debuted at SXSW in 2020.

Building on her reputation, she was able to approach private Pakistani investors to make Wakhri starring influencer/actress Faryal Mehmood as a teacher who uses her alter-ego Wakhri to make social commentary and raise funds to educate young women.

Expressing surprise that Pakistanis would wish to finance a film which doesn’t reflect their country in the best light, Bilal says: “You have to separate the government agendas from its people. This film is authentically inspired by real heroes in Pakistan and even showcases some of our country’s actual viral stars.

Photo by Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images for The Red Sea International Film Festival

“So, Wakhri was made first and foremost for Pakistan – and then the rest of the world. There are a lot of people who will identify, understand, unpack and enjoy a film like this. I understand the perception that it’s an oppressive, restrictive culture, but actually, it’s the people who are heroes, because they rise against that. They create art, they protest, and this film is theatrically releasing in Pakistan in a month.

“Also, another reason why we wanted to go the private equity route is that we wanted the creative liberty and license,” she says.

Talking about the Pakistani film industry, she adds: “The infrastructure of the film industry is still severely damaged. I think it’s just a few brave souls who take it upon themselves to continue making films so the independent scene is not alive and thriving but being pulled by like ten filmmakers who really want to tell the stories.

“So, because the financing is all outside the system, the system has yet to catch up to the process of making films and I think the supply chain of cinema is so hurt in Pakistan, because Bollywood can’t be shown because of the India/Pakistan politics and local film industry is not producing that much. So, it’s a cycle – so then the cinema chains are hurting, and it’s kind of like start and stop. That’s where the Pakistani film industry is right now,” says Bilal who hopes Wakhri might help, in some small way, invigorate her country’s film industry.

Ask Bilal how she personality feels about social media, she immediately declares: “It’s very scary and dangerous. And I also think it’s flooded by big giant echo chambers and big giant companies advertising what you see.

“So, if it was just like, anyone can broadcast their authentic selves – then sure. But I think that’s been very quickly hijacked to almost remove empathy as opposed to build it. I personally think social media is really scary. If I was not in this business I would have already gone by now.”

While she hopes Wakhri will be well-received in her homeland, she also wishes it might spread a wider message of kindness. “I hope it encourages audiences to resist the urge to assume – and be kind and genuinely curious about anything and anyone – because this film is about people who fall in between checked boxes.

“And this film itself falls in between checked boxes which is why I’ve been so strategic in terms of where we need to play it. It challenges genres. You can’t quite put it in a box – and I want to resist the idea of putting people in boxes.”

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