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The National Academy of Performing Arts (Napa) and Climate Action Centre jointly launched CAC’s Imagining Life project on Sunday with the screening of the first Sindhi feature film, Indus Echoes, made in Pakistan in 28 years.

Through interwoven stories of farmers, poets, fishermen, lovers and the river itself, the film, written and directed by Rahul Aijaz, reflected on humanity’s conflicted relationship with the Indus River.

A full house watched the movie and gave it a thumbs up at the end. After the screening of the film, a panel discussion was held where Mr Aijaz narrated how poetry had always helped him articulate his thoughts.

He said that since English was as much his first language as Sindhi is, he thought the title in English before translating it into Sindhi, while the entire movie was conceived and made in Sindhi before being subtitled in English.

Journalist and activist Afaq Bhatti said that all dams and barrages were wounds on the Indus River. He pointed out that even this movie was shot near the last hurtful place for the river, Kotri Barrage.

He pointed out that the Indus Valley Civilisation was not just limited to the Indus, it was about the entire river system of this region.

CAC’s director Yasir Darya said that when he met Mr Aijaz and saw the trailer of the movie, he immediately realised that this was an important project. That is why, he said, CAC decided to screen it.

Indus Echoes will have its nationwide theatrical release on September 12, said a press release issued here on Sunday.

Earlier, the event started with presentations by Dr Sadia Abbas of Rutgers University, Newark, and Niilofer Farrukh, art interventionist.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Abbas said when it comes to climate change, everyone needed to be engaged, as it was everyone’s fight.

She blamed the colonial masters of British India for the climate disaster in the region, but also added that subsequent industrialisation was also to blame.

Niilofer Farrukh said that only imagination and creative thinking could help one find a way forward against every challenge.

Talking about climate change, she said that people were not listening to the signals the earth was sending. She said the structures that the colonial masters had established had survived throughout the global south.

Another panel discussion, ‘Connecting Transformative Energies’, moderated by Farrukh and featuring Saira Danish Ahmad, Imran Mushter Nafees, Napa COO Sameeta Ahmed and Amin Rahman.

The panel explored how imagination could move beyond present constraints to open pathways for collective futures.

Originally published in Dawn, August 18, 2025