Nabeel Qureshi talks Miami film festival win and representing Pakistan on an international forum

Director Nabeel Qureshi, known for his creativity to produce content that tackles social issues in a lighthearted manner, has won an award at the Miami short-film festival — but not for a movie.

This time, the director applied his talents to a music video, for Shani Arshad’s song Ki Jana. Starring Sonya Hussyn and Mohsin Abbas Haider as a newly married couple, the video centres around the important yet delicate issue of honour killing.

Announcing the good news on Twitter, Nabeel shared a short clip from the ceremony.

"Every year, the film festival happens in person, but unfortunately because of Covid, this time the ceremony was held online from Miami and people from all over the world attended through Zoom and their Facebook platform," Qureshi revealed in a conversation with Images.

"I'm glad I could represent Pakistan on an international forum and win an international award. This festival is great, very prestigious. Interestingly, last year I did not make a film, so it's great that I got recognised for my music video and it got an award."

The Na Maloom Afraad star also added how Sonia, Mohsin and Shameen worked tirelessly on the three-day shoot, making full use of the aesthetics of Gwadar.