Pakistani filmmaker Shehzad Hameed's 'Kasur's Lost Children' wins award at New York Festivals

Pakistani filmmaker Shahzad Hameed's documentary Kasur's Lost Children has won an award at the New York Festivals.

The documentary, which is based on Pakistan's biggest child sexual abuse scandal, has won the Silver Award in the Human Concerns Category 2017.

The documentary is a 48-minute investigation that follows one activist on his journey to bring justice to the victims. The documentary was screened as part of the third season of Channel NewsAsia's award-winning investigative series Undercover Asia.

"It feels great that through this win, awareness regarding child abuse is being created as this is the only way of fighting against such a heinous and hidden crime in societies," says filmmaker Shahzad Hameed to Images.

This is Shahzad's second documentary that has been honoured at New York Festivals. He has previously won a Gold Medal in the Best Documentary: Community Portraits category for Flight of the Falcons in 2016. Flight of the Falcons featured Sister Zeph and her struggles to give young girls primary education.

While Shahzad works in Singapore, many of his works focus on Pakistan and its people.

Says Shahzad, "Even though I moved to Singapore years ago, the stories, characters, plots we find in Pakistan are complex, difficult but extremely compelling. The heroism of our activists, the courage of our women and ability of Pakistanis fighting back against the tide is so inspiring for filmmakers like me, forcing me to keep coming back to my country."

After yet another victory, Shahzad reveals his future plans.

"My next project will take me to Afghanistan where I'm aiming to deal with the complexities of terrorism and IS in a beautiful country ripped apart by a civil war."

Could this be a third award-winning film in the making? We feel so!