Short film Darling is a landmark moment for queer cinema in Pakistan
It is a tenderly crafted romance, as well as a story of the violence and erasure imposed on trans bodies.
What Ali Gul Pir’s latest track reveals about male allyship in the #MeToo movement
I found myself questioning if this was an instance of a man centring himself in a conversation that wasn’t about him.
An exhibit at Karachi Biennale was forcibly shut down. Does public art not belong to the public in Pakistan?
As the Biennale disowns an exhibit they curated and an artist under threat, it casts a new light on the organisation.
This drag comedian confronts power with a laugh in Karachi
“Miss Phudina Chuttni is urbanised – a regular, every day urban Pakistani," says Muhammad Moiz of his onstage persona.
How did film Laal Kabootar manage to represent Karachi so authentically?
The team behind Laal Kabootar explains what it takes to recreate Karachi in way that feels real.
Review: Gully Boy is a spellbinding film, but its magic comes at a cost
Was the ‘Gully aesthetic’ just an aestheticisation of poverty? Was this story Zoya Akhtar’s to tell?
The Lahooti Melo promised female liberation, but what it highlighted was our constraints
Even a well-intentioned festival can struggle to break free of the structures that have come to define us
This talk in Karachi pit artists against intellectuals but is that really useful?
The speakers grappled with the 'intellectual' and 'artist' label rather than talk about Karachi's pressing concerns
A thinkfest in Karachi forces us to consider why hierarchies still thrive in progressive politics
IBA's 'Thinkfest' was generally dynamic and inclusive, but still, something was amiss