Anjum Shahzad's Mah-e-Mir to be Pakistan's submission for Oscars 2017

The Pakistani Academy Selection Committee has selected Mah-e-Mir to be submitted for Oscar consideration in the 'Foreign Language Film Award’ category at the 89th Academy Awards.

Mah-e-Mir, directed by Anjum Shahzad and written by Sarmad Sehbai, chronicles the life of a young anarchist poet (Fahad Mustafa) who denounces tradition, goes through the sufferings of love, separation and poverty, which drives him into madness, where he discovers the 18th century poet Mir Taqi Mir.

In his poetic journey, he embodies the intense love, passion and creative madness of the poet. The film features Fahad Mustafa, Iman Ali, Sanam Saeed, Alyy Khan and Manzar Sehbai.

The movie was selected by way of a secret ballot and was the overwhelming film of choice of the Committee members. As per standard practice, films selected by each individual country's Academy selection committee are submitted to the Academy for screening, shortlisting and voting with official Oscar nominees announced at a later date.

The Pakistani Academy Selection Committee was chaired by two-time Academy Award and Emmy winning documentary filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy and included Iram Parveen Bilal as the charge d’affaires, Zeba Bakhtiar, Adnan Siddiqui, Hasan Zaidi, Sheema Kermani, Sarmad Khoosat, Jamshed Mahmood Raza, Jamil Dehlavi and Adnan Sarwar.

Speaking about the selection of Mah-e-Mir, Iram shared, "After decades of neglect, it is a matter of great pride that the Pakistani film industry has achieved so much in such brief time and speaks volumes for the inherent artistic talent of our people."

"I wish the makers of Mah-e-Mir the best of luck in their journey through the shortlisting process and thank them for their contribution to Pakistani cinema."

In 2013, the Pakistani Academy Selection Committee selected Zinda Bhaag as the first Pakistani film in over fifty years to be submitted for Oscar consideration in the 'Foreign Language Film Award’ category, followed by Dukhtar in 2014 and Moor in 2015.