Saawan wins Best Foreign Film at Alexandria Film Awards

Farhan Alam's Saawan, a film that is based on a polio-stricken nine-year-old from Balochistan, has moved audiences at home and abroad.

The film just picked up the Best Foreign Film award at the Alexandria Film Festival in Virginia, USA this weekend, according to a Facebook post of the director.

"I am proud to announce that Saawan has won Best Foreign Film Award at the 11th annual Alexandria Film Festival held in Virginia, USA. Congratulation team Saawan on another win," wrote Farhan. The film has been produced by Mashood Qadri and stars Saleem Mairaj, Syed Karam Hussain, Arif Bahalim, Najiba Faiz and Imran Aslam in lead roles.

Saawan was screened on Day 2 of the four-day festival, which ran from November 9-12. The fest is in its 11th year of running and also featured indie films from Austria, Australia, Cyprus, Finland, France, Norway and the UK in this edition.

In his announcement post, Farhan mentioned that the film has won several awards, which include 'Best Foreign Language Feature Film' award at the Madrid International Film Festival 2017 and the ‘Best Film’ and ‘Best Soundtrack Award’ at Salento International Film Festival in Italy.

Notably, the film was also chosen as Pakistan's entry to the Foreign Language Film at the Oscars 2018. We'll know if Sawaan made the cut when the official nominees are announced on January 23.