Pakistani filmmakers are having their moment in the sun at film festivals around the world and Umair Bilal has become the latest name to join the roster with his first feature documentary, As Light as Air, set to premiere at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland in August.
The film, set in the spiritually significant city of Sehwan, shows it as a centre of pilgrimage where “pilgrims, wanderers and seekers arrive… carrying grief, hope and longing”.
At documentary’s centre are the rituals of devotion that give the city its spirit — Bilal called it the “town’s own rhythm” — with a special focus on the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar.
The film’s synopsis describes three scenes, with one of an ascetic going door to door to collect alms and being welcomed by the residents, and another of a communal space — the Malang Mach — where different visitors arrive, sleep and eat simultaneously.
The third scene, one of a dhamal, is where the film gets its name from. As the drums beat and the flutes play, the devotees lose themselves in a trance, “leaving them as light as air”.
