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Pakistani filmmaker Kamran Faiq’s short film The Last Glance has officially qualified for the 2028 Academy Awards longlist after winning the Jury Award for Best Short at the 21st Tasveer Film Festival in Seattle, which ran from October 13 to 18.

In fact, Faiq told Images it’s the “only film that has qualified for the Oscars from Tasveer”.

Explaining the context behind the idea of being long-listed, Faiq said, “Out of thousands of short films, only, I think, 200 qualify.”

He said that next year, they will be in the race for the Oscars. “We’re in the process of getting an Oscar[-nominated] actor on board as an executive producer, who will be representing us next year [at] the Oscars,” Faiq said, before clarifying “this is not a nomination, but we’ve qualified” by winning the prize at Tasveer.

The plot of The Last Glance follows a family fleeing their village in the dead of the night to escape violence. The film stars Adnan Shah Tipu, Areej Ayub and Fahad Hashmi, among others. It’s written, produced and directed by Faiq, with Umer Peerzada serving as producer and Khalid Saeed Khan as executive producer. Mike McNamara and Armeena Rana Khan are co-producers.

Being long-listed for the Academy Awards is but one of many wins for the film. It also recently took home the Best International Short Film award at the Mosaic International South Asian Film Festival in Canada.

On Thursday, in an Instagram story, Faiq announced “The Last Glance has been selected as one of only eight finalists, chosen from films representing more than 50 Asian countries, for the short film program at the Asian World Film Festival in Los Angeles.”

For Pakistani audiences, every single win matters. Local filmmakers push against all odds and compete with the best in the world. Faiq has done exactly this.

While the Oscar race is long and nothing is guaranteed, the fact that a Pakistani short film is now on the longlist is definitely worth celebrating.

Photos provided by Kamran Faiq