CULTURE
Theatre & Creativity
overview
Theatre, Film & Creativity
To encourage the most effective means of communication, ASR worked with alternative and people’s theatre groups and moved substantially into the production and distribution of audio-visual materials — an especially effective medium in a country where 76% of the population is illiterate.
1988
Film unit established
3
Films produced
2
Theatre festivals organised
1993
British Council WID Award won
Theatre
Street theatre, people's theatre, cross-border solidarity.
ASR worked with alternative and people’s theatre groups and worked towards linking such groups with other organisations working for social transformation. A street theatre workshop and two landmark theatre festivals were organised — the first cross-border cultural exchange of its kind since 1947.
1988
ASR Theatre Workshop
February 1988 · Lahore, Pakistan
A street theatre workshop bringing together Pakistani groups to develop people’s theatre as a tool for consciousness raising and social transformation.
1989
Safdar Hashmi Theatre Festival
February 1989 · Lahore, Pakistan · Pakistan & India
1992
South Asian Theatre Festival
1992 · Pakistan
- Pakistan
- India
- Nepal
- Bangladesh
- Sri Lanka
"This was the first time since 1947 that Indian theatre was performed in Pakistan — an activity that led to several other initiatives between the two countries."
Film Unit
Self-reliant, purposeful film production since 1989.
ASR moved substantially into the production and distribution of audio-visual materials — an especially effective medium for consciousness raising and information dissemination in a country where 76% of the population is illiterate.
Realising the importance of being self-reliant, ASR set up its own film unit in 1989 and began video production training workshops. The unit went on to produce three films — each addressing a distinct dimension of women’s lives in Pakistan: religion and law, child labour, and Islamisation.
One of these films won the British Council Worldwide WID (Women in Development) Video Award in 1993, bringing international recognition to ASR’s work.
Film unit founded
1989
Lahore, Pakistan — ASR established its own in-house film production unit and began video production training workshops
76% of Pakistan’s population was illiterate at the time — making audio-visual media the most effective tool for reaching communities with information and raising political consciousness
3
Films produced by ASR's own film unit
1993
British Council Worldwide WID Video Award
76%
Illiteracy rate — why film was essential
Ch4
Channel 4, England — broadcast reach
films
Three films. Three dimensions of women's lives.
Each film tackled a distinct and urgent subject — from women and Islamic law to child labour to resistance against Islamisation — using documentary and docu-drama formats to reach broad audiences.
Film 01
When This Day is Named
A film on Islamisation and women’s resistance to it — broadcast on Channel 4, England, bringing ASR’s documentary work to an international audience.
Broadcast · Channel 4, England
Film 02
Mother I Have Many Desires
A docu-drama about a girl child working in the brick kiln industry — depicting the harsh realities of child labour and the dreams of those trapped within it.
British Council Worldwide WID Video Award, 1993
Film 03
Untangling the Knot
A short film on women and Islam — examining the relationship between religious interpretation, law, and the lived experiences of Muslim women in Pakistan.