Pakistani Films for Social Change

A Conversation and Short Film Screening with Pakistani Filmmaker

and Human Rights Activist Samar Minallah

Join Pakistani filmmaker-activist Samar Minallah to discuss some of the deep-rooted social dilemmas facing Pakistani society and the peacebuilding approaches she and other local civil society leaders use to bridge social divides. Samar will feature short excerpts from some of her films, including "Swara-Da Zhwand Mairman,” a Pushtu-language documentary about the giving of girls in marriage as compensation to resolve disputes. She will be on hand to talk with participants about her work in Pakistan.

Ali Gohar, the founder of Just Peace Initiatives in Peshawar, Pakistan, will also be present for the conversation. As an expert in traditional Pakistani methods of conflict resolution such as the Pukhtun jirga process, Ali works with Just Peace Initiatives to mediate between tribal and government leaders and help build community-based structures that foster peacebuilding.

Monday, June 11, 4:00pm - 5:30pm

Search For Common Ground

1601 Connecticut Ave. NW, 4^th floor

Washington, DC 20009

Light refreshments will be served.

Please RSVP here. Space is Limited.

Samar Minallah is a documentary filmmaker and a human rights activist. She directs Ethnomedia to foster social change in Pakistan through research, music videos, documentaries, and a weekly television show. Having graduated from the University of Cambridge with an Master of Philosophy in Anthropology, Samar's interests lie in civil and human rights which she translates to film, holding up a mirror to certain aspects of society in order to effect change.Samar is one of the first Pakistani filmmakers using video to give voices to the marginalized by making socially-relevant documentaries. Her film, Swara-Da Zhwand Mairman was a catalyst in pushing a law against the custom of Swara and used as evidence in the first ever Supreme Court Case highlighting the issue of giving girls as compensation in disputes. Her documentaries are being used for advocacy by both government and non-government organizations and media in Pakistan.

Ali Gohar is the Founder and Rebar (Guide) of Just Peace Initiatives in Peshawar, Pakistan.Just Peace Initiatives helps to build community-based structures to foster peacebuilding and mediates between tribal leaders and the government. Ali is an expert practitioner in the Pukhtoon jirga process for addressing disputes and conflicts, where people sit in a circle and resolve community conflicts.Ali has written widely on the Jirga process and other themes, authoring and contributing to publications such as Towards Understanding the Pukhtoon Jirga,The Pukhtoon Code of Life, and Who Learns from Whom: Pukhtoon Traditions in Modern Perspectives. He also co-authored with Howard Zehr The Little Book of Restorative Justice specific to the Pakistan-Afghanistan context.